Aliens Among Us
by Chris7221
Summary: Ruby Jones is as fast as she is cheerful. Anna Weiss is cold and regal. Bella Blake is quiet, mysterious, and never takes off her hat. Linda Anderson is flaming hot and goes by a Chinese name. All of them seem oddly familiar. Impossibly familiar. An interquel set immediately after Emergence.
1. New Arrivals

And we're off! This is very, very different from what I usually write, so we'll see how it goes. I'm not exactly well-versed with normal stuff like fashion or music, and it's been a while since I've been to high school.

I know it's weird (and maybe a little disappointing) to see what's essentially a slice-of-life high school AU after the roller-coaster ride that was Emergence, but there's actually a lot of things I want to do with this.

New setting, new OCs, a new world to explore. Let's get this show on the road.

* * *

**1: New Arrivals**

_**Connor Lloyd**_

It just wasn't my day.

First, it was Monday, so I had PE first block. I mean, I have it every day, but I really hated it in the morning. I'd rather be doing math or computer stuff or even English, just anything but PE. I'd never had a good PE class I liked, but this one was the worst.

Mr. Lee was one of those PE teachers that wasn't supposed to exist anymore. Physical Education was supposed to promote fitness and knowledge of being healthy. Mr. Lee treated it as an athletics course. It wasn't what they said it was supposed to be- doing your best

Not that I could do much, anyway.

And then there were the guys who made fun of me because I was bad at the class. Or, to be not as nice about it, bullied me for being unfit. It wasn't my fault I liked other things. It wasn't my fault I figured there were more important things to pursue than being able to run fast or lift a lot of weight.

It was kind of funny, actually, because that's what my big brother is all about. We look like brothers, sort of, but he's this big football player and I'm the nerd with the glasses.

So, two hours after getting up on Monday- that's half an hour into class if you're counting- I found myself being pushed around when we were supposedly playing basketball.

Like, literally pushed around. We were supposed to be doing passing drills, but instead we were doing keep-it-away-from-Connor drills. The other guys I was supposed to be playing with- bullies who probably rigged it to all be with me- were taller and faster and just better. They taunted me as they kept the ball away from me.

"Over here! Too late!" Jason, the ringleader. Combining actions with words, I'll give him some credit for that. If only I could prove the pen was mightiest when combined with the sword.

"Hey, slowpoke!" His friend, with some Indian name I could never pronounce. Am I the only one who thinks of the Pokemon when I hear slowpoke? I hope a Charizard burns down your house and eats you.

"Geez, how fucking bad can you get?" The bully known best as Sir-Swears-A-Lot. Edgy, but unoriginal. Fuck you too.

I hate PE.

"Can I join you guys?" a girl asked quietly. I turned to look and nearly got a basketball in the face.

I hadn't seen this girl before- I had a terrible memory for names but usually I could tell if I'd seen someone before. She was pretty cute, but more in a huggable kind of way, not like a hot romance kind of way. She had black hair streaked with red, grey eyes, and an Achievement Hunter shirt of all things, which I had a minor nerdgasm at.

"I'm Ruby Jones," she introduced. I felt almost like she should finish it with something else. She did look kind of familiar, like maybe she looked like an actress or something. She added, "I'm new to the school."

"How are you at basketball, Ruby?" Jason asked, doing a really bad job of hiding his annoyance of having someone shoved into his perfectly-formed group.

"I've never played it before," she admitted. That was weird- I was a total shut-in and even I knew how to play... sort of.

"Well, we're just doing passing drills now," Jason explained, dribbling the ball like an asshole. "You catch the ball, and then you pass it to someone else, like this."

He demonstrated, passing it to the Indian guy, who passed it to Sir-Swears-A-Lot, who passed it back to Jason.

"Now you try!" He passed the ball to Ruby, who awkwardly caught it. To my surprise, she turned to me and tossed it straight at me. Way too hard.

I stumbled back and gasped when the hard rubber ball slammed into my sternum. I mean, I usually dodged balls instead of catching them because it hurt but this was even worse than usual.

"What a wimp!" Jason uttered, laughing along with his two buddies.

"Sorry!" Ruby apologized. She actually looked like she felt bad about it. She turned to the other guys. "Don't laugh, it was my fault. I threw it way too hard."

Jason shook his head, "You couldn't have thrown it that hard, Connor's just a pu-"

Mr. Lee blew his whistle at that point, cutting the bully off. When he blew the whistle, we all had to gather around him and the last people in would have to do pushups. Which really sucked because I was both slow and I couldn't do pushups.

This time, though, I wasn't last, because the new girl didn't know that and took a long time to catch on. Mr. Lee told her, "When I blow my whistle, that means everyone needs to come in, okay? Usually the last person in has to do pushups, but because you're new you don't have to. Okay?"

"Okay," she replied, still fairly quiet.

After that, he explained what we were doing next. Two mini-games, switching out the teams at five-minute intervals, for the remaining half hour or so of class. Good, at least we were almost over. I ended up with a few of the less mean guys and the super-hot girl I could never talk to, and I pretty much drifted through the rest of the class. We placed third, probably because I was negative two players.

But I just had this weird feeling about Ruby, the new girl, that stayed until class ended and after. It wasn't that thing called love, was it? I didn't like her, did I? No, this was just curiosity... and confusion.

There was just something strange about her I couldn't place. It was probably just my overactive imagination, though.

* * *

_**Vicki Lee**_

None of us really liked our business class. We'd all decided to take it, mostly to be together, but also because the course description sounded cool. That turned out to be a mistake, because the class was super super boring.

I did find some parts of it interesting, but none of my friends seemed to, so none of us really paid much attention to it. I mean, we did good enough, but we weren't really putting in our best work or even close to it.

Because of the stupid bus schedule, me and my friends were there five minutes early, waiting outside the door. I was wearing my new Dior handbag, and eagerly showing it off to a jealous Ann and Daffodil. Of course, Lisa had an even more expensive one from her rich grandparents, but it was still a partial victory.

"Hey, who's that?" Lisa asked, pointing condescendingly to a confused girl strutting down the hallway toward us.

By confused, I don't mean the look on her face. That was impassive and confident. The way she walked, the way she carried herself just screamed rich bitch. Like, really rich should be going to private school bitch, not us cream of the bad crop that was regular school girls.

But the way she dressed was atrocious. She had what looked like a light blue T-shirt mostly hidden under a cream-grey wool jacket, along with a flared white skirt that looked like she bought it at Wal-Mart. Her wedge heels weren't tall enough to make up for her short stature and I'm pretty sure the grey leather was fake. It was about as low-class as you could get.

And she had dyed her long, flowing hair white. Nobody dyes their hair white anymore! At least it kind of went with her very pale skin.

I'd never seen her before, or never noticed her before, at least. She turned toward us, like she was going to introduce herself.

"I'm Anna," she introduced. "Anna Weiss."

"I don't care who you are," Lisa snapped at her. I felt a little bit bad about it, but if I felt kind of condescendingly toward the new girl then Lisa probably thought she was way beneath us.

For a brief moment, I thought I saw a strange look cross her face. "Well, I suppose the feeling is mutual."

While we were bantering, Ms. Patil had arrived and unlocked the room. She was a short Indian lady- not that it's a bad thing. I thought she was okay, but not great. She seemed to know what she was doing but she rambled a lot. But she was easy, with not a lot of assignments and generous grading on the ones we did have to hand in.

Thankfully, Anna hadn't taken our spots, although she was fairly close to us. My disgust had turned to curiosity at this point, and I asked her, "Are you new here?"

"Yes," she replied after a moment of hesitation.

"I'm Vicki," I told her. "These are my friends Daffodil, Irene, and Lisa."

"Where are you from, Anna?" Lisa asked, an edge to her voice.

"North Vancouver," she replied quickly. "But I live close by in Burnaby now."

"You dyed your hair white?" Daffodil asked.

She shrugged. "Yes, it's actually my, favourite colour."

"Of course it is," I muttered.

Anna looked like she was going to say something not so nice to me when the teacher cleared her throat, interrupting us. She began, "Good morning class. We have a new student today, so please try to give her a good welcome. Miss?"

Beside me, the girl stood up. "Hello. My name is Anna Weiss. I'm new to the school."

"Sprechen sie Deutsch?" the German exchange student asked, barely letting Anna finish her sentence.

The white-haired girl shook her head. "No, and neither did my parents."

Ms. Patil smiled at Anna as she sat back down, before continuing, "Today we will be starting the types of corporations. Now let's get down to business."

I rolled my eyes at the horrible joke she had to make at the beginning of every class. Down to business, indeed.

I was curious about the new girl. She stood out. Maybe I should have just dismissed her and ignored her, but there was something weird about her.

I wondered if anyone else felt the same way.

* * *

_**Gavin Lloyd**_

Usually, English 12 was just kind of _there_. I showed up- usually, mostly didn't pay attention, put in a token effort and I was getting ten percent more than I needed to pass.

Today was actually slightly interesting for once. There were two new girls who stepped into the class about a minute before it was supposed to start. The one in front was the shorter of the two, with black hair and skin a shade darker than the other girl. She gave off an air of sophistication or something, except for the hat.

The hat was a little weird. Technically, we weren't allowed to wear hats, but nobody actually enforced the rule. The hat she wore didn't fit her at all- it was a toque that I might wear when it was cold or I needed to rob a bank. Not something bookish or fancy. I wondered if she had horrible scars or some shit under there.

If the first girl gave a kind of quiet not-quite-nerd impression, the other girl was pretty much the opposite. She is smoking hot, like really fucking hot. She's got long, flowing blonde hair kinda sorta tied up into a ponytail, big boobs, a nice ass, and an outfit that shows it all off. I could have sworn it got a few degrees warmer as she walked in.

She's also aware, catching me staring and winking at me with a crystal blue eye.

The guy beside me- Jason, I think his name was- poked me. He pointed really obviously to the hot girl and asked me, "Hey, does she look kind of familiar to you?"

I thought about it a bit. She did look a bit familiar, maybe like a celebrity or something, but I couldn't place it. "Maybe. I dunno, man."

While we were talking, the hot girl passed me by, following the girl with the hat. They sat together near

the back of the class.

Seconds later, literally seconds later, Mr. Johnson came in. I could make the obvious dick joke, but I mean seriously, this guy is a douchebag. He looks like a douchebag with his weird-ass sweaters and overly stylish glasses. He sounds like a douchebag talking about the human condition and shit. He even moves like a douchebag.

Then again, he said he had a wife and kids, so maybe he's not actually gay, just metrosexual. He's not Asian enough for it, though.

"Good morning, students," he lisped. Did I mention he talks with a lisp? "I hope you all had an interesting weekend. Maybe you discovered something, maybe not, you know, not every day has to be a revelation, although one could argue that everything is a revelation."

Thankfully, he cut his own rambling short, thank all that is holy. "But speaking of new experiences, we have two new students today. Could you introduce yourself?"

After sharing a look with her friend, the girl in the hat reluctantly stood up and quietly said, "I'm Bella Blake."

"Tell us something interesting about yourself, Bella," Mr. Johnson pressed.

"I like to chase sparkly vampires," my neighbour said in a very bad imitation of Bella's voice. I should have seen that one coming.

She glared at him, narrowing her brown eyes in almost a catlike way.

"What? Come on! It was funny."

"I know you're just having fun, but keep in mind that not everyone comes from the same background." As usual, Mr. Johnson managed to turn an admonishment into philosophical bullshit. "What's considered offensive can be very different. Please, Bella, do tell us something."

"I uh..." I noticed her eyes dart around like she was looking for a place to escape. There's no escape from this class, just an hour of bullshit better left ignored. "I like books."

"What kind of books?" our effeminate teacher asked, curious. "Tell us what you're reading right now, Bella."

"Let The Trumpet Sound," she replied quietly, reluctantly. "It's about Martin Luther King."

"A very interesting, very influential, very multifaceted man," the teacher mused. "You could spend an entire lifetime just studying that man, understanding what made him who he was."

He turned to the other girl as Bella sat down again. She took it as her cue to stand up and introduced herself. "I'm Linda. I sometimes go by Yang. Either one's okay."

"Yang? That's Chinese for the sun, is it not?" Mr. Johnson asked.

"Yeah," one of the Chinese kids in the front muttered, loud enough for me to hear.

"I've gone by it since I was five," the girl added.

"Interesting," our teacher mused. "And tell us something interesting about yourself."

She shrugged casually, ponytail and boobs bouncing with the motion. "I'm a boxer."

I suppressed the urge to laugh and sort of made it. She looked like a model, not a boxer. I've seen boxers, and even the girls are a lot more muscular than that. Kickboxing- no, she wasn't built for it. Maybe she could put out a nasty hit, once, but no way she could take one.

"Hmm... there's an interesting issue there," Mr. Johnson mused. Yes, I'm not exaggerating, this was what he actually does. "At what point does a sport become violence? Is a violent sport really violent? Is it acceptable?"

"I enjoy it," Linda casually protested.

The teacher nodded. "And that is an argument in and of itself."

"Fuck..." my neighbour muttered. I nodded in agreement.

Then Mr. Johnson finally started doing actual teaching. I don't know how much time we wasted, but, eh, it was time we didn't have to do actual work. He introduced what we were doing to the new arrivals first. "We're reading a book called The Things They Carried. Written by Tim O'Brian, a veteran of the Vietnam war. It's a loose collection of stories about the Vietnam War that straddles the line between fiction and nonfiction. Do you have the book yet?"

"No, we don't," Bella said for both of them. I guess they were friends.

"That's okay, you can look at a neighbour's, and I might have an extra. How much do you know about the Vietnam War?"

I tuned him out as he started talking about war and morality and other bullshit, spending the rest of the class doodling in my notebook and sneaking glances at Linda.

Actual boxer or not, I knew who I wanted to get to know.


	2. Lunch Break

The pacing will be slow at first, but it will start to pick up later. I see this fic as more of a collection of loosely-connected single- and multi-chapter arcs than a single cohesive story.

I'm still playing with the story format and tone and I will continue to do so for several chapters. It could take a while to get into the groove so to speak; I haven't done any stories like this before.

This chapter kind of evolved organically- I just started from a starting point and went with it. Usually I plan out more, but I didn't even have an endpoint in mind this time. Was it good or bad?

With all that being said, I do have several scenes and even plot arcs in mind already.

Although it was named once and may be named again, the high school is not meant to depict any specific school. Any resemblance to the actual school of the same name is probably coincidental because I've never been there. Come to think of it, I should probably include a disclaimer.

* * *

**2: Lunch Break**

Four girls sat together near the edge of the high school cafeteria. One had black hair streaked with red and might be described as almost, but not quite, boyish. One had snow white hair and dressed in clothes that were cheap knockoffs of what was expensive and fashionable. One covered her black hair with a knit cap that looked out of place on her. One had long, flowing blonde hair and showed off her ample assets while just barely complying with the dress code.

Some may have felt there was something odd about the group. Perhaps a more perceptive individual with the right background might even realize who they looked like. But if anyone made the association, it was quashed as a mere coincidence as soon as it came up.

"Wow, I'm glad we packed lunch," Yang Xiao Long remarked dryly, motioning to the cafeteria line. It was backed up into the hallway for a good ten metres.

"Yeah," Ruby Rose agreed before asking her team, "So, how was everyone's first two classes? Weiss?"

"Really? It's only been half a day!" Weiss Schnee complained, raising an eyebrow. "And you should probably call me be my _first_ name."

"Anna, how was your morning?" the red-haired team leader repeated.

"Well, first I had business. I'm still not sure what it's about, but I managed to have a few minutes of awkward conversation with the local group of pretentious, rich, entitled-" Catching her team's snickers, she snapped, "I know. The irony is not lost on me."

"Did you get along?" Blake Belladonna asked.

"Not really."

"Blake?" Ruby asked, ignoring the fact that Weiss had only described her first class.

"It was fine," she answered.

"Come on, Blake," Ruby whined.

Blake sighed. "All the guys were eyeing up Yang in English, and someone made a Twilight joke about my name."

"That's a good cover," Ruby mentioned after a moment. She explained, "I mean, you prefer Blake to Bella because you hate Twilight."

"Hmm... that's actually a good idea." She was still surprised by how deceptively insightful the younger girl could be sometimes.

And how oblivious. After several seconds, Ruby asked, "Wait, did you say that the boys were looking at my sister?"

Yang hesitantly cracked a smile. "They just can't resist my massive... hotness."

"Hey," a baritone voice called. The blonde brawler turned to see a familiar face attached to a tough, muscular body.

"Speak of the devil," Blake muttered, hiding behind her book.

"I'm Gavin," the young man introduced, smiling cockily at Yang. "You're Linda, right? The new girl in English?"

"Guilty as charged," she replied, a hint of forcedness in her light tone.

"Yeah... hey, I could give you a tour of the school, show you were everyone hangs out, that kind of-"

"Maybe some other time," Yang said, cutting him off.

Gavin looked disappointed and failed to hide it. "Oh, well, okay, then. Later."

"He obviously likes you," Blake pointed out.

"No, it's just a stupid crush," her partner dismissed. "He only likes me for my body. It'll never go anywhere."

"I thought you relished that kind of thing," Blake pointed out.

"Come on, Yang!" Ruby whined before Yang could respond to her partner. "Maybe he's really nice."

"It's our first day," Yang protested.

"I met Weiss on our first day at Beacon!" Ruby said a little too loudly.

"There are so many things wrong with that comparison," the heiress grumbled.

"Remember when you said I should make other friends at Beacon?" Ruby gently reminded her sister.

"Fine, we'll try to make some new friends," Yang compromised, finishing her sandwich. "As a team."

They stood up and walked across the cafeteria, with Ruby in the lead. Gavin was with a few other guys, most of them looking as tough as he did. Two of them were Asian, though none of the girls could decipher which of the many ethnicities they belonged to. From the bits of conversation they could catch, the group was talking about some sport.

"Hey," Yang called.

"across the- oh, hey," Gavin said awkwardly. "So, about that tour..."

She shook her head. "Maybe we can hold off on that tour, but you barely introduced yourself. And I didn't introduce any of my... friends."

She continued without a pause, more confidently this time. "This my sister Ruby- she's in Grade 10. And that's Anna Weiss and Bella Blake."

"You were in English too, right?" Gavin asked Blake.

The covert cat faunus nodded. "That's right."

One of the asians, a bulky young man wearing a T-shirt that showed off his muscles, laughed.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you laughing about?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, just reminds me of a web series that I'm the only one who watches."

Gavin told them, "Yeah, Aaron's a total, uh, otacon?"

"Otaku," Aaron corrected. Seeing the girls' confused looks, he explained. "I like Japanese anime and manga and that sort of stuff."

"Yeah, he's probably thinking about some shitty anime right now," Gavin laughed.

"Technically, this one is made in Texas, so it's not really anime," Aaron corrected.

The four members of Team RWBY shared a look. Aaron continued to ask, "Do you really go by Yang?"

"Hey, I did it ten years earlier, thank you very much!" Yang jokingly protested, forcing the most sincere smile she could onto her face.

The guys, thankfully, laughed with them. Before the conversation could get any more awkward, Gavin told them, "Hey, we're on the football team, and I was wondering if you've got nothing else to do, maybe you'd like to, uh,"

"Join? Not really." Though the 5'2", lightly built Ruby was being completely serious, they laughed and the four girls quickly joined them.

"Yeah, but seriously though, we've got a game after school tomorrow, and it's just a, uh, kind of a warmup, but if you want to watch, well, we'll be there, and we're gonna kick ass!"

"Sure, why not?" Ruby replied.

"Great, see you there, then," Gavin said, smiling. "Remember, we're the Gladiators, so cheer on the right team!"

"Got it."

"Alright, we're gonna hit the gym," Aaron added as they walked away. "See you later."

"See? We've already made friends!" Ruby told her team cheerfully.

Weiss folded her arms. "I think they were just recruiting us as fans."

"Maybe there's something there," Blake allowed.

Yang muttered tensely, "I would actually not mind hitting something right now."

At the other end of the hallway, Gavin suddenly punched Aaron in the arm.

"What was that for?" Aaron protested, inwardly wincing at the pain but refusing to show it.

"Just reminds me of a web series nobody watches," Gavin recited. "Man, it's no wonder you don't have a girlfriend."

"I'm waiting for the right one," Aaron snapped back, harsher than he meant to. "You're the one who bounces between crushes like they're disposable."

"Hey, guys," Darrel, one of the other members of their small group, interrupted. "Everyone's different, you know?"

"Sure." Gavin shrugged before turning more serious. "I dunno, that hot blonde seemed kind of different."

"Because she's fucking Yang Xiao Long?" Aaron wasn't sure to what degree he was joking.

"See what I mean? Dude, you watch way too much anime," Gavin told him again, before softening. "Hey, it's not a bad thing. Lots of girls like that shit. Just, you know, stop pretending they're actually from anime."

He added, "Besides, I thought Yang was supposed to be the really outgoing one? Our Yang seems to be a bit more reserved."

"Yeah, I guess," Aaron admitted.

"I still have first dibs on her, though," Gavin reminded his friend as they stepped into the weight room.

* * *

Firehawk242: They're going to have an... interesting time.

Reine de la Mort: The OCs may come across as initially grating, but there's a lot more to them than it seems, and this is something I've done more or less deliberately.

Fourze: Never seen/read/played it.

Tatopatato: Emergence had a loose schedule, this story has none at all. I'll try for at least one chapter a week, but it will pretty much end up as it comes out when it comes out.

Animelvr975: Weiss actually almost said that it was her natural colour but switched it to favourite colour at the last moment. She did stutter but Vicki did not pick up on it.

The Layman: Without spoiling too much, the OCs have a lot more to them than a cardboard cutout stereotype. Yes, even Jason.

onerustybucket: Maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure about shipping, to be honest. If it happens, it happens, but I'm not going to force it. Gavin is not a massive douche, just a bit judgemental... or a lot judgemental. He really doesn't like his English teacher, and having had similar such teachers, I can both understand and disagree with his position.

Guest: Pretty much random and I'm uncreative with names.

Natsu d uzumaki: Not long, but would you believe it even if it was true?

ODST110: Canadians were not involved in Vietnam. It is (was?) studied in Social Studies 11 in the context of Canada-US relations and the strain it caused on them. However, the book in question, The Things They Carried, is the one I read in Grade 12 English, and I think it's more about just happening to be about the Vietnam War than being chosen for it. I'm terrible with both fashion and names, so some of that is my fault.


	3. Afternoon

If I were to do it again, I would have done this arc differently, with smaller slices throughout the day. I think there will be one more chapter in this "first day" mini-arc. Then game day, then Halloween. I'm looking forward to the latter especially.

By the way, I'm still updating the Asides alongside this story.

* * *

**3: Afternoon**

The class right after lunch was the only one they had together, Social Studies 11. They figured this out when they all started heading in the same direction.

"Hey, we have the same class!" Ruby remarked redundantly.

"This feels like a mistake," Blake told her.

The younger girl blinked. "Why?"

"We'll stand out," she replied. "We should at least not sit together."

"But we're a team," the crimsonette protested.

"Not here," Weiss reminded her. "We should at least sit out of order, or in a square."

Ruby thought about it for a moment. "Okay. I'll sit with Blake behind you and Yang."

They filed into the classroom with the other students. One of them poked Yang in the shoulder as they filed in. She almost punched him in the face before calming down, a brief red flash concealed behind her contact lenses.

She turned toward the poker, a blonde and scraggly boy that looked a bit like a shorter, wimpier Jaune. "Did you just poke me?"

He quickly replied, "Sorry, I, uh, don't know your name. You're new to the class, right? I'm Harold."

"I'm Yang, Anderson," she replied, quickly adding, "I mean, my real name is Linda, but I go by Yang. It's Chinese for the sun, like my amazing hair."

She sat down beside Weiss near the back corner of the room, and Harold sat down beside her. He chuckled. "Yeah, it's not weird, I mean, I'm Harold with two r's, and my last name is Yeung, but I'm totally white."

"How did that happen?" Weiss asked, leaning in front of Yang.

Harrold shrugged. "I dunno, actually. I think my grandpa's from Hong Kong or something."

The teacher, a balding man with greying hair, stepped into the room and set an old leather briefcase on the table beside the projector at the front of the room. "Hey, Polish K is here."

"Polish K?"

"Have you had him before?"

"We're new to the school," Yang told him.

"Ah, well, Polish K's a riot."

"Why do you call him Polish K?" Weiss asked.

"Good, uh, afternoon, class," the teacher began with a very heavy accent. "Today we have new student. Uh, I am sorry, you should probably introduce yourself, I am terrible with name."

Ruby stood up first, shooting up violently and pushing her desk-chair a good foot backwards in the process. "Hi, I'm Ruby!"

"Red like roses," a girl with glasses muttered from beside Ruby.

Weiss glared at her. "Not funny."

"And what about you, with white hair." The teacher motioned to Weiss. "You are albino, or really seventy years old? That is not natural, is it?"

She didn't find it funny. "No, it's dye. I'm Anna Weiss. I don't speak German."

"Ah, too bad," Polish K mentioned. "I was once okay fluent with the German, but not anymore."

"Blake."

"First name or last?" the girl with the glasses asked.

"Last name," she replied. "My name is Bella, but I don't really like that name anymore, because of a _certain vampire novel_."

"And the hat?" the teacher asked, mostly curious.

"No," Blake snapped. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry," he apologized, realizing there was probably a reason she wore it.

"I'm Yang," the last member of RWBY introduced. "I mean, my real name is Linda, but I go by Yang because it's Chinese for the sun, like my fab hair."

There was a chorus of laughter, except for the girl with the glasses, who muttered something unintelligible.

"I am Mr. Krawczyk," the teacher introduced for the first time. "It's okay, nobody can pronounce it, so Mr. K is fine. I was once from Poland, so my English is sometimes not good."

"Today we are finishing up the unit on Canadian government and starting twentieth century history." He turned to the girls. "I will give you four packages on that unit, which might be hard but if you know how to find information it's not so hard."

"Okay," Ruby replied.

"I think the twentieth century is the most interesting history we do in school," Mr. Krawczyk opined. "This is when we stop thinking about ancient history that doesn't effect us- well, it does, but it is not obvious- and into things that we still see today. For Canada it does feel a bit, uh, detach, but in Poland, we witness history. But it is the same history, and the twentieth century is when world history really becomes the history of everyone and not a sort of, uh, a broad overview..."

* * *

Halfway across the school, thirty athletic young men had a very different class in the gym.

Their class was Team Sports 12, derided by many as nothing more than extra practice for the football team. It wasn't quite accurate. It was, in effect, extra practice for the football team, and the rugby team, and whatever other teams were playing at the time. Right now, it was, in fact football season, and football was what they were doing, to the annoyance of the few other people taking the course. It was a term course, and soon it would switch to a new group and a new focus sport.

None of that went through the mind of Gavin Lloyd. He was entirely focused on passing a slightly-underinflated football to Aaron, getting the technique just right. But Aaron seemed distracted.

Finally, after watching his friend fumble three passes in a row, Gavin asked, "Come on, spit it out."

"Spit what out?" Aaron dismissed.

"Come on, man, those anime girls," Gavin reminded him. "I mean, you think they're anime girls. I think you watch too much anime."

"The names are all the same-"

Gavin shook his head. "They share one name each, except Linda, who uses Yang as a nickname, probably before that anime even made it over here."

"Okay, first of all, it's called RWBY," Aaron huffed. "Second, it's not anime. It's an American web animation."

"You're missing my point," Gavin insisted. "Those names are common. What else about them catches your eye, eh?"

"Blake's hat," he replied immediately. "In the show, Blake wears a bow to hide her cat ears. Why else would she be wearing a toque everywhere?"

Gavin shrugged. "Maybe she just likes it. Or maybe it's something really bad, you know, like all her hair's burned off and there's a shitload of-"

"Okay, okay!"

"So the names are a coincidence, the hat is explainable," Gavin continued. "What else?"

"They look like Team RWBY," Aaron told him. "I mean, if you squint a little, and imagine them in different outfits."

"Of course you would imagine them in _different_ outfits," Gavin prodded.

"That's not what I meant!"

Gavin sighed. "There was this girl in Pre-Calc last year, her last name was Paris. She looked like Paris Hilton, twenty years younger, no shit. She did it on purpose, man. Everyone thought it was funny as all hell."

"But they're all friends! They're all new to the school, they all hang out together. They're like a team!" Aaron protested, throwing his arms apart.

"So, it's a coincidence," Gavin said, tossing the ball up and down. "Think about it, man. Anime characters don't just pop up in real life. It's just a coincidence. Maybe a really cool one, but just a coincidence."

"Yeah, I know," Aaron sighed. "I know."

"Come on, man, give it up."

"Sure." Aaron grinned, motioning for his friend to pass the ball. "Maybe I'm crazy."

"Hey, talk to them, get to know them," Gavin suggested seriously, tossing the ball back over in a near-perfect pass. "Maybe they're not really anime characters, but that doesn't mean they're nobody, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, yeah," Aaron said, catching the pass. "You're right, man, you're right."

* * *

"Well, that was interesting," Yang commented to her partners, stepping out of the classroom.

"That's one way of describing it," Weiss complained. "I did not understand a single thing he said."

"Ugh, this booklet is so thick," Ruby moaned, flipping the paper between her fingers. "But I have engineering next! I'm not really sure what we're going to do but it sounds awesome!"

"I have English," Weiss said neutrally. "We'll see if Mr. Johnson is as bad as you say he is."

"You might say he's a real... dick," a familiar voice said.

Weiss whipped around, facing Aaron face to face. "What... you!"

He raised his hands, "Hey, sorry. I just have the same class and I saw you going the wrong way, so, uh..."

"Forget it," Weiss snapped. "But I suppose you're right, I was going the wrong way."

She turned to half-follow Aaron, leaving Ruby with her sister and Blake. They continued to follow Ruby toward the shop wing, before Blake mentioned, "Uh, I don't think we need to go up here."

Ruby smacked herself in the face. "Right, we don't have all the same classes. I keep thinking we're headed to Grimm Studies. What do you have?"

Blake and Yang sighed at the same time. "Foundations of Mathematics 11."

"Heh. Have fun, sis, Blake!" Ruby waved to them as they turned back and headed down toward their math classroom.

She continued down the hall and into the engineering classroom. It was a strange hybrid between a computer lab and a metalwork shop, with stationary machinery on one side, computer work stations on the other, other work stations at the back and a lecture area at the front.

Her attention was immediately drawn by all the devices and machines, the purposes of which she had no idea of, scattered throughout the room. "Wow..."

* * *

"Hey, what's the story with Blake, uh, Bella?" Aaron asked the white-haired heiress as they walked toward class. He noticed that Weiss- _Anna_\- strode powerfully and purposefully. _Like an heiress would._

"What about her?" Weiss snapped. She really didn't want to be with this guy right now. The one crazy guy in the school who had it figured out.

"Do you, uh, do you know why she wears that hat all the time?"

"No," Weiss lied smoothly. "I've never asked, and she's never told me."

"Oh," Aaron replied, disappointed.

"Why do you want to know?"

"No reason." Aaron asked awkwardly, "Listen, uh, Weiss, uh, what's your favourite colour?"

"Do you think with your brain or your cock?" Weiss snapped rudely. She inwardly winced at the pedestrian language she'd carefully chosen.

"Hey, I'm asking what your favourite colour is, not if you're taken," Aaron replied, raising his hands in mock defence. "Wouldn't hurt to answer, would it, Snow Angel?"

Ignoring the painful reminder of a certain blonde idiot, Weiss answered, "It's white, and Snow Angel, really?"

"Don't like Snow Angel?" Aaron antagonized. He was deliberately trying to get some sort of clue out of Weiss, and she knew it.

She forced a smile. "No, actually, it's... fitting, I guess."

"You like it?" Aaron asked before remembering something. "I guess it depends who says it, huh."

"No, not really," Weiss replied, knowing exactly what he was referencing. She stopped suddenly, and Aaron nearly plowed into her.

"Why did you do that?" the football player asked.

"We've passed the classroom," she told him. "Three times. I'm not interested, okay?"

With that, she retraced her steps halfway down the hallway and stepped into the classroom. There was an empty seat surrounded by occupied seats near the front of the room, which she immediately took. Aaron, dejected, sat on the other side of the room.

"Apologies for my tardiness," the teacher said, breezing into the room. "Ah, yes, we have a new student. I'm Mr. Johnson, unfortunately I have to teach English but I think we can learn so much more. Please, go ahead and introduce yourself."

Reluctantly, Weiss stood up. "Hello. I'm Anna Weiss."

"Hmm. How long has your family been here, Anna? Do you speak any German?"

"They were here for several generations, and no," she said curtly.

"That's too bad," he replied, catching her slightly off phrasing and its implication. "Tell us something interesting about yourself, Anna."

"I'm..." She searched her brain for a reasonable answer. Something she could get called on later, so it had to be partially honest. But it had to be appropriate for Earth. They hadn't taught them how to answer that kind of question. "A fencer."

"Hmm, interesting," the teacher remarked, chewing his lip. "We had a new girl this morning who said she was a boxer. What was her name- ah yes, Linda, or Yang. Chinese for sun. An interesting choice."

_Of course she said she was a boxer_, Weiss thought idly. She realized that her teammate probably didn't even think about it, just answered on automatic.

He switched mental gears. "Well, I suppose we should get started. We're going to read a book called The Things They Carried, but we're a bit behind the other class so we haven't started yet. A serendipitous coincidence... we'll be getting our books from the library today..."

"I told you this class sucks," Aaron whispered to Weiss from across the room. She groaned in response.

* * *

The teacher, a tall, thirty-something woman of Asian descent, was waiting for Blake and Yang students just inside the door of their classroom.

"You must be Bella and Linda," she said, stopping them with a smile that looked more forced than not.

"I usually go by my last name."

"Sometimes I go by Yang, but really either one is fine."

"Blake and Yang?" the teacher asked, slightly confused.

"I hate Twilight."

"It's Chinese for sun. Like my fab hair."

The teacher smiled awkwardly. "Right. I'm Ms. Hahn. This is the Foundations of Mathematics 11 class. You've already missed half of it and that could be problematic."

She produced a pair of large stapled booklets. "These are review booklets for the first half of the course. I want you to get through them as quickly as you can, but don't rush through it. It's important that you get through them

"Thank you, Ms. Hahn," Blake said for both of them. They took the last two seats, fortunately beside each other at the back of the class.

Ms. Hahn stepped toward the front of her class, fumbling with the projector cable and her school-provided convertible laptop. Like many other teachers at the school, she had moved most of her lessons into the digital realm. Like many other teachers at the school, that meant little more than using the Wacom digitizer in her X201 tablet instead of an overhead projector.

Meanwhile, the two new students were poring over their booklets, ignoring the curious looks of their new classmates. They immediately became concerned when they saw what was in them.

"You know how I didn't go to regular school?" Blake whispered to Yang.

"Because of your thing, right?" Yang whispered.

"Yes," she replied quietly. She motioned to her review package. "We didn't exactly do math."

"Hey, I faked my way through," the blonde replied. "I don't know what this is either. Maybe Weiss can help us-"

"I know you're probably really nervous since it's your new day, but we have a lot to get through and I have to begin the lecture," Ms. Hahn scolded gently, reminding the two that class was supposed to have started. "Okay, class, we have two new students, Blake and Yang. Now, we'll be starting inverse functions today..."

"We are so screwed," Yang whispered to her partner. Blake simply nodded in agreement.

* * *

ODST110: I've had similar teachers, and they're great if you like their teaching style and discussions, and incredibly annoying if you don't. Gavin falls into the latter category. All of them have different outfits and hairstyles. Yang and Blake have contact lenses that change the colour of their eyes.

Firehawk242: RWBY feats are all over the place, and we don't know how much is Aura/Semblances and how much is their natural physique or if they're even distinct. I've thrown out the lowest and highest end estimates and come to a sort of compromise. For this story, Remnans are significantly stronger and faster than Terrans, but not orders of magnitude so. This without Aura or anything like that- adding that changes it up again. Even still, Yang would be one hell of a football player if they let her play. Ruby might be... even better, actually, since she's faster.

Tatopatato: Given the change from anime style and deliberate changes in appearance (hairstyle and clothing can make a big difference), it would be a hard sell unless you really know what you're looking for. As for Blake's hat, there are many reasons for wearing a hat all the time that would make one hesitant to remove it.

linkthetoaoftime: On Earth, you can generally, though not always, tell how strong someone is by looking at their body... get your head out of the gutter. This is not true on Remnant. They're big football players. Yang is probably the toughest looking of RWBY and she's still pretty lightly built. Naturally, they're not going to think a lot of them physically. There are more implications to this, but it's tired and I'm posting this before I'm late at night.


	4. First Day Done

This is the conclusion of what's more or less the first arc. Maybe not the best conclusion, or the best arc, but to reiterate, this loosely-plotted, slice-of-life stuff is far from what I'm used to, and this is realyl my first foray into it.

After doing the first chapter first person, I've abandoned it in favour of third person, but the first-person perspective might come back later.

This is definitely a fun story to write. It's much more loosely written, so to speak, and I don't have to worry about juggling plot threads too much.

* * *

**4: First Day Done**

"Key, Ruby," Yang reminded her sister as the team huddled together on the porch of their house.

"Right." Ruby stopped trying to grab her scroll- phone, she corrected herself- and unlocked the door with her key. They rushed inside and slammed the door shut behind them.

"Home sweet home," Yang muttered drearily.

The foyer opened up to a living room on the left with the kitchen and dining area behind it. To their right was the garage, currently empty except for a few boxes. Behind it was the downstairs bathroom and bedroom. A staircase led from the foyer to the upper storey, where there were more bedrooms and the second bathroom.

They'd only been living there for a few days, and they had only the bare essentials- even some of that was missing.

Yang collapsed onto the couch, a brand new, if inexpensive, piece of furniture. She flicked on the TV, a 50 inch Panasonic unit. The news was on, a story about the tension in Ferguson that was still present even though the riots had stopped.

"So ignorant," Blake muttered, sitting down beside her.

"Ughh..." Ruby moaned, flopping onto the other couch.

"I didn't think you could run out of energy," Weiss remarked to her partner.

"Neither did I," the crimsonette replied.

In a more dignified fashion, Weiss sat down beside her. "I suppose the first day is always the hardest."

"Let's just watch something silly," Yang suggested tiredly. "I don't want to do anything today."

* * *

The girls were torn away from their almost-finished movie by a loud knock at the door. Yang bolted up, ready to fight.

"It's just the door," her partner gently reminded her.

"Yeah." She sat down, allowing her sister to zip over and answer the door.

She recognized the men at the door as their "handler", Harry Iverson, and two of the men from the support team across the street. Iverson held up a stack of pizza boxes. "We brought dinner."

"It's dinnertime already?" Ruby asked, surprised. She stepped out of the way, letting them in, and closed the door behind them.

"It's thirty past six!" Weiss called from the living room.

"I would be lying if I said this wasn't a debriefing," Iverson began as they settled in. He noted that even the supposedly refined Weiss Schnee dug into the pizza quickly and voraciously. "As you are aware, you are being recorded, and we will review the recording."

He paused. "However, this is not a formal debrief, and I want you to be as honest and open as you can."

"Okay," Ruby replied amicably. "What do you want to know?"

"How was your day?" Iverson asked simply.

"It was okay," she replied. "Science I didn't really understand, but I saw a lot of cool stuff in engineering and I wasn't careful enough in PE and now some mean guys think Connor is a wimp-"

"Let's start with science," Iverson said, slowing her down. "What were you doing and why didn't you understand it?"

"Something about mixtures of chemicals or something," she replied. "The teacher said I needed to do review and gave me this big booklet."

The CSIS officer noted that the booklet was probably still in Ruby's bag, left with the others at the edge of the living room. "You mentioned something happened in PE?"

"Yeah, we were throwing balls- I think they're called basketballs- and I passed to a guy but I didn't do it properly and I threw it too hard," Ruby told him, embarrassed. "It was painful for the boy who caught it and these other boys laughed at him because they thought he was wimpy."

"Try to be more careful in the future, Ruby," Iverson gently chided.

"I know. I will."

He turned his attention to her partner. "What about you, Miss Schnee?"

"I met some privileged, pretentious rich girls that I once would have befriended for political reasons, but chose to ignore," Weiss replied simply. "That was in business class, which provided very little information on how business is actually conducted on your world."

She continued, "Pre-Calculus is a fairly general study of algebra. In retrospect, you probably should have placed me into Pre-Calculus 12, or even Calculus 12, because I've done this before."

"You need to pass a Math 11 final to graduate."

"I understand." Weiss nodded before continuing, "Social Studies 11 was fascinating, though I could barely understand the instructor. And my English teacher seems more focused on philosophy than actually teaching the course."

She took a deep breath before allowing, "But I'll admit my prior experiences are unusual, even on Remnant. I studied at a small private academy before attending Beacon."

Blake didn't wait for a prompt. "I had English first, which Yang can tell you about. Then I had art. We didn't actually do much, but the teacher lectured about Rembrandt, which was interesting. I have the same Social Studies class as everyone else."

She paused. "I'm worried about math, though. I never had a formal education on Remnant. I think I'm okay with English, since I read a lot, and I'm in the same boat as everyone else for Social Studies, but math..."

"Don't worry, Blake, I forgot most of it so we're both in it together," Yang reassured her. "Besides, Weiss can help us with it, since she's so good at math."

"I suppose I owe you that much," Weiss admitted.

"Did anyone ask you about your hat?" Iverson interrupted with a bit of reluctance.

Blake replied in the affirmative. "Yes. I told them I didn't want to talk about it. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it worked."

"And what about your English class?" he asked Yang.

"There was a guy who kept staring at me, even more than usual," she replied. "Gavin, I think- he's a football player. But the class itself was a crappy lecture about some novel about a war."

"Yang didn't like the content of the lecture," Blake explained.

"My other classes were fine," Yang quickly continued. "I'm still confused about your cars, though. But Social Studies was useful even if the teacher was worse than Oobleck to listen to. And you already know about math."

"What about your interactions with others?" Iverson asked. "What did you do during lunch period?"

"Aaron," Weiss mentioned.

The CSIS officer echoed, "Aaron?"

"One of Gavin's football player friends," Yang explained, shrugging. "He knows about the show, but he didn't really call us out, just mentioned it."

Weiss shook her head. "I forgot to tell you, but I think he was trying to provoke me into... being Weiss."

"But you are Weiss!" Ruby reminded her, missing the point.

The heiress shook her head. "Not here."

"What did he do, exactly?" Iverson asked, mildly concerned.

"He asked about Blake's hat, so I told him I didn't know," she replied. "I also called him on trying to enter a romantic relationship with me- though I doubt he was and that was not the language I used-"

"What language did you use?" Yang asked, curious.

Weiss grimaced. "I told him he should stop thinking with his... cock."

Yang burst out laughing. "Didn't know you had it in you, Weiss."

The heiress went deep red. "Why- excuse me?"

"That came out wrong!" Yang defended, cringing when she realized that she had just made a second double entendre.

Iverson cleared his throat. "Did anything else of note happen?"

"We got invited to watch a school football game," Ruby told him. "That's after school tomorrow."

"Do you plan on going?"

"We already said we would," Ruby admitted.

"You should go," Iverson told her. "I think it would be a good experience for you. To experience Earth's culture, or a small and insignificant part of it anyway."

He stood up to leave. "Before I leave, are there any other questions you have?"

"Is it going to be a problem?" Ruby asked hesitantly, concerned. "Are we... blown already?"

The CSIS officer shook his head. "No, I don't think so. This is the thing you could be absolutely right about, and still assume you're totally wrong."

"Okay," Ruby replied.

"Good night, everyone," Iverson told them as he left. "You should probably at least look at your review packages. You have a lot of catching up to do."

I know I haven't replied to guest reviews- FFn is doing funny things with them being approved and then not appearing for days. I'll get to them with the next chapter, I promise.

* * *

Firehawk242: Remnant has been described as a world that operates on Rule of Cool. It's internally inconsistent and often doesn't make a lot of sense. Trying to get a reasonable estimate is quite difficult.

linkthetoaoftime: Weiss has already changed quite a bit, but she's back to being guarded again because of the strange new environment. She'll loosen up over time, I think.

ODST110: I realized that shortly after I wrote it, but kept it anyway. I guess it's become kind of running gag at this point.


	5. Game Day

Though the story arcs aren't really independent, I think this chapter stands on its own; it's not connected to any other story arc. Although there's really not that much there.

I don't actually know much about football, so don't expect this to be good. Yes, high school football is a more elusive topic for me than how to acquire forged documents.

* * *

**5: Game Day**

"Well, this ought to be interesting," Yang said as she sat down beside her sister in the bleachers. It was cramped, especially for her.

It was an okay day for football. It was overcast and not that warm, but relatively dry. They had a good view from where they sat. The players were getting ready on the field below, but the game hadn't started yet.

"So... how does football work?" Ruby asked.

"Well, there's two teams, and there's a ball," her sister replied. "They have to get it to the other team's end of the field by running and passing. And the other team tries to stop them by blocking and tackling. I think the game stops occasionally and they switch, or something."

"Why is it called football, then?" the crimsonette asked, confused.

Yang shrugged. "I don't know. Apparently it's based on some other sport, or something, but the article was really confusing."

"You mentioned tackling," Blake remarked. "This sport sounds dangerous, especially for Earth humans."

"They have pads and helmets and stuff," Yang pointed out. "But now that you mention it, yeah, it's probably not very safe for them."

"Are all the players guys?" Ruby asked, noticing something for the first time.

"Almost all sports are separated by gender on Earth," Weiss reminded her. "I would expect football to be one of them especially."

Ruby raised a confused eyebrow. "Why?"

Weiss didn't get a chance to respond, because the announcer announced the start of the game immediately after. While the players gathered on the field, groups of girls in colourful uniforms waved frilly pom-poms around and shouted enthusiastically.

"Who are those people?" Weiss asked, confused.

"Cheerleaders," Blake replied. "They're supposed to get the crowd going, or something like that."

"So the guys play and the girls cheer," the heiress remarked. "Seems rather sexist for a supposedly enlightened world."

"You think this is bad?" Yang growled at her. "There are places on Earth where a woman can be stoned to death for going to a sports game at all. That's bad."

"Guys, can we please just enjoy the game?" Ruby protested. On the field, the players were getting ready to start playing, and the ball was set up in the middle by the referee.

The referee blew his whistle and one of the players tossed the ball to the player behind him, who took off down the field.

"Go Gladiators!" Ruby shouted. Her partner glared at her. She told her, "I'm just trying to get into the spirit."

"The other team has the ball, you dolt," Weiss pointed out.

"So? Then our team needs to get the ball back, right?"

"That's not how football works," Yang told her. "I think."

One of the players on the other team slammed into the runner, pushing him to the ground. The move was, in their eyes, rather anticlimactic. The referee blew his whistle and the game stopped.

Ruby was surprised. "What? Why did they stop?"

"I think this _is_ how the game works," Yang told her. "I think."

Ruby yawned loudly.

"Come on, Rubes, give it a chance!" her sister said lightly, elbowing her in the ribs.

The game continued for a while, with the ball being taken toward one end of the field and stopped. Then the ball was given to the other team and the process was repeated.

"This is actually a lot more boring than I expected," Yang remarked with a yawn. "I thought it would be this really violent, intense, awesome game."

"It's a matter of perspective," her partner told her. "It may be extremely intense and violent for an Earth sport."

"This game manages to be both brutish and unexciting," Weiss argued.

"Maybe it's an acquired taste?" Ruby suggested.

The game continued for a while, with neither team scoring. Then the ball went back to the Gladiators. It was about that time when Ruby finally realized which one of the players was Gavin, and she waved to him. He did not see the wave or wave back.

The ball was tossed to the quarterback, who then passed it halfway down the field. Kevin dodged an opposing player and caught it, continuing down the field toward the goal. One of the players almost tackled him, but only pushed him without pushing him over. He reached the end and slammed the ball on the ground.

"Touchdown!" Most of the crowd cheered in response.

"Yay! First goal!" Ruby shouted. "We're winning... well, they're winning... you know what I mean!"

"Still kind of boring," Yang said.

Ruby sighed in agreement. "Yeah."

* * *

"That was awful," Weiss complained as the four girls shuffled out of the stands. The game had finished with the Gladiators winning 7-5, a victory that resulted in a lot of cheering and a slightly lesser amount of dejection.

Ruby reminded, "We did win, though, so that's worth something, right?"

"We?" Weiss arched an eyebrow. "I didn't see you on the field."

"Our team, though," Ruby said. "It wasn't that bad, Weiss."

"It was mostly just boring," Yang said, shrugging.

"I think it could be fun with just a few changes," Ruby said. "Maybe it's just something you have to warm up to."

Blake nodded. "It's a strange game to us. I think is we understood it, we would have enjoyed it more."

"Hey," Gavin called from the other end of the parking lot. He had changed out of his football uniform, which was now in a large bag slung over his shoulder. He dropped the bag and strutted toward them. "You did make it out here. What did you think of the game?"

They shared a look. Ruby replied diplomatically, "It was interesting."

Gavin laughed. "Geez, it's like you've never seen a football game before."

The girls shared another uncomfortable look. "Uh..."

The football player sighed. "You don't even know how football works, do you?"

"Nope," Ruby admitted.

"I looked it up last night, but it didn't make sense," Yang elaborated.

"I'll tell you what, if the weather's decent, maybe we can show you how the game is played," Gavin offered.

"Are you asking me out?" Yang quipped.

Gavin shrugged, hiding his awkwardness. "Only if you want it."

Ruby replied for her, "Sure. Why not?"

Her sister groaned and rolled her eyes.

"It's a date, then," Gavin said, laughing. He turned and started heading back toward his car. "See you tomorrow."

"Well, that was a thing."

* * *

Aaron was waiting for his friend when he got back to the car. "What's the holdup?"

"You know those _anime girls_?" Gavin said, putting air quotes around _anime girls_. "I actually talked to them like a human."

"Let me guess, they don't know what football is?" Aaron deadpanned... although he might not have been joking.

"Dude, lots of people don't know how football is played," Gavin told his friend clapping him on the shoulder. "It's screwed up, but it does happen."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Hey, I offered to show them how the game is played," Gavin told his friend as they got into the car. "You want to help me? Maybe something good will happen..."

"Yeah. Sure." Aaron was more glum this time.

"Spit it out, man."

"I think both Blake and Weiss hate my guts now."

"What did you do this time?"

"I, uh, I might have provoked her to see if she would act like Weiss."

"Dude, you know that's not the way to get girls," Gavin told his friend. "Look, you're a good looking guy, you're on the goddamn football team. All you need is a little confidence and a little panache."

"No shit. Tell me about it." Aaron felt awkward and changed the topic. "Hey, what are we doing for Halloween?"

* * *

Guest chapter 2 . Jan 4 : We'll see the original OCs again, but only occasionally and only in passing. The focus is now on RWBY primarily, with a secondary focus on the new OCs. And they are meant to be a lot deeper than it initially appears.

Guest chapter 3 . Jan 4 : I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say here. I will say this. Most people wouldn't know anything about RWBY and might notice that they're a bit odd, but wouldn't draw any sort of connection. The people who are familiar with the show would almost all dismiss it as an interesting coincidence. Aaron is a bit of a special case in that he's going on a flight of fancy, he knows it but wants to try to get a reaction anyway, against his (and Gavin's) better judgement.

Guests with Q's chapter 3 . Jan 5 :

1\. Nobody outside of Gemstone knows who RWBY really is. School administrators and teachers were told that they are special, potentially dangerous, with tragic pasts, and given odd special instructions.

2\. Most of the teachers are (very) loosely based on the various teachers and instructors I've had. Most of the students are inspired by, though not really based on, people I've met at school.

3\. A combination of both. Experienced intelligence officers worked with the girls to build legends that they would be able to remember, would be satisfied with, and would do a decent job of hiding them.

4\. Gemstone has a surveillance team in a nearby building, and they are wired into the feeds.

5\. The New World took place on October 25 and they started going to school the following Monday. The Christmas special takes place when it should, in December. I have no idea when football season actually is, so do not use that to determine what the date is.

Keep on sending in questions, I (usually) enjoy answering them.

Firehawk242: That's still a lot higher than I can jump. Twitchy Yang is scary, and dealing with that will be a recurring story element, if not a plot arc.

Derox-1223: Yes and no. The plot, if you can call it that, will develop slowly.

Ghost of the Reaper: What do you dislike about my writing style? This fic is out of the norm of what I usually write, and I am having some trouble with it.

ODST110: I _might_.


	6. All Hallows Eve

I'm thinking this is going to be a 2-3 chapter arc. I've been thinking about this arc since this story's inception, so I'm excited to finally bring it out. Even if it doesn't turn out so great.

I'm sticking with third-person for now, but I'll probably write a bit from Aaron's point of view later on.

I don't trick-or-treating when you're in Grade 12 is common practice, but it's not unheard of. I knew a guy who kept going trick-or-treating into college.

Also, all I know about high school parties comes from movies and secondhand accounts.

And RWBY has my so thoroughly conditioned that I actually didn't realize that Snow White didn't have white hair until I looked it up.

* * *

**6: All Hallows Eve... Eve**

"I think you're a little old for that, Ruby," Weiss told her partner.

"But Weiss," the crimsonette whined, putting down her sandwich and pouting. "Free candy!"

She hurriedly added, "Besides, Connor is going, remember?"

The heiress rolled her eyes. "Didn't you tell me he was taking his little sister?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Come on, Weiss, it'll be fun!" Yang interrupted loudly, sitting down across from them with a tray of food. Blake followed a moment later.

"Yang, you're late!" Ruby complained to her sister, before reaching over and stealing a handful of fries.

"Math ran late," she said, shrugging. "Ms. Hahn wanted to go over some complicated triangle stuff with us."

"It was basic trigonometry," Blake corrected.

Weiss coughed. "Trick-or-treating. I'd have thought you of all people would be against this."

Yang sighed. "We can't be children forever. Sooner or later... and in some places it's always sooner. I just want to take advantage of it while I still can."

"Blake?" Weiss inquired.

"I really have no opinion," Blake said. She held _Let The Trumpet Sound_ in one hand and a fish stick in the other.

"That's two against one, Weiss, we're going!" Ruby exclaimed triumphantly.

"Fine," the heiress grumbled.

"Hey," Gavin called, approaching them. Or rather, approaching Yang, who he seemed to be focusing his attention on. "We're having a party tomorrow, wanna come?"

"Where is it?"

"My place," Gavin answered. "My little bro's taking my baby sister trick-or-treating, and the parents are going to be out for the next few days."

"Oh, you're Connor's brother!" Ruby realized, snapping her fingers. She finally noticed the resemblance. Though Gavin was much bigger and tougher looking and his hair was lighter, they had similar facial features.

"Yeah, believe it or not," Gavin replied with a smile.

"No, I see it now. So when is it?" Ruby asked. "The party, I mean."

"Well, Aaron and a couple of other guys are showing up at eight, but I don't think it's really going to get going for another couple hours, so..." Gavin shrugged, speaking more to Yang than Ruby.

"Do we need costumes?" Weiss asked, folding her arms.

He rolled his eyes. "It's a _Halloween_ party. I mean, you don't have to, but it'd be kind of lame to not dress up at least a little."

"Okay, we'll be there," Yang replied, then looked at Ruby, who flashed her a thumbs-up. "Yeah."

"Cool." Gavin left, presumably back to his own friends.

"Nu-uh!" Ruby waggled a greasy finger in front of Weiss. "If we start early, we'll still have hours of time to go trick-or-treating and still get to the party."

The heiress sighed and acquiesced. "Ugh, fine."

"I wonder what parties are like on Earth?" Yang mused.

* * *

After school, Team RWBY met in the same spot they had for the past few days, on the edge of the school grounds by the road.

"Okay, everyone's here, let's get moving!" Ruby urged as soon as everyone had showed up.

"We're going the wrong way," Weiss told her partner almost immediately. Normally they would go straight for the intersection and cross the street, beginning the half-hour walk home. Instead, Ruby was leading them in the opposite direction.

"No, we're going the right way," Ruby countered. "We need to go shopping for costume stuff. So we need to go to the Nanaimo station and then take the train to Metrotown."

"What?" Weiss objected. "Why wasn't I informed of this?"

"This is kind of random," Yang added. "But I'm okay with it."

Ruby fished in her hoodie pocket and handed them each a printed-out picture.

"You have got to be kidding me," Weiss muttered. "Snow White? A fairytale?"

"Yep! Since we're a team, we should go with a theme," Ruby replied cheerfully. "Since we're like these fairytale characters, we should dress up as them!"

"Couldn't we just go as ourselves?" the heiress snapped.

"Nah, that's too easy," her partner dismissed.

"Am I Goldilocks or Cinderella?" Yang asked, holding up the picture.

"Goldilocks. You have the hair for it," Blake told her after taking a look at the picture. She looked at her own and sighed. "I don't think this is going to work. I look nothing like Belle."

"That's why it's a costume, Blake!" Ruby reminded her cheerfully. "Besides, it doesn't have to be perfect."

"When did you figure all this out?" Weiss asked her partner. She was impressed with Ruby's initiative and organization, if not with what she was actually trying to accomplish.

"In engineering," Ruby replied proudly. "I still have to decide on a project, so I was on the Internet looking for ideas, and I got sidetracked and figured this out instead."

She pointed dramatically to the station. "Now, onward to Metrotown!"

* * *

Gavin managed to get on the bus just before it left. The driver gave him an angry glare, but said nothing as he tapped his Compass card against the reader.

He briefly wondered why Connor wasn't on the bus before remembering he had robotics on Thursdays. He noticed Aaron sitting near the front and grabbed onto the rail above him as the bus started moving.

"Hey, you made it," Aaron said lightly.

"Barely," Gavin replied. He bumped his friend on the shoulder. "Hey, you'll never guess who I invited

"Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang," Aaron deadpanned. "I bet I know who they're going as, too."

Gavin sighed. "Really?"

He raised his hands defensively. "I'm just saying that if they know about the show, they should take advantage of the coincidence. I mean, they could totally pull it off."

Gavin cracked a grin. "You just want to see hot girls dressed up in anime outfits, don't you."

"Kinda, yeah," Aaron sheepishly admitted.

"So, do you go the-"

Aaron cut him off. "Yeah, I got it."

"Relax, man," Gavin told him. "We're out of the way, there's no cops around, and they're too busy with the crackheads to bust a party anyway. It'll be fine."

* * *

The four girls entered the house looking- and feeling- dejected. It was five in the evening, the light was failing, and they had little to show for it. Aside from their school backpacks, all they carried was a single shopping bag.

"That was a disaster," Weiss complained, dropping her backpack at the edge of the living room. "I knew this was a bad idea."

"We expected that we could just buy costumes off the shelf," Blake told her. "That was unreasonable."

"It's not too bad. We'll just have to improvise!" Ruby said cheerfully. She zipped away up the stairs.

"She's going for her cloak," Yang mentioned, flopping down on the couch.

Moments later, Ruby zipped into the living room, wearing her cloak as her sister predicted. She spun around, the cloak flapping around behind her. "See? I already have what I need."

"But that's the most recognizable thing about Little Red Riding Hood," Blake reminded her. "I look nothing like Belle."

"Well, there's different versions of the fairy tale," the crimsonette reminded her, sitting down with her cloak still on. She paused, then dashed away and came back with her laptop. "Let's see... versions of Beauty and the Beast..."

"You still have that dress," Yang reminded her, holding up the item in question. It was a deep purple, slightly shimmery.

Blake glared at her. "That's the one I bought for myself, not as a costume."

"It says that Belle was given lavish and expensive clothes," Ruby told her, reading from her laptop. She motioned to the dress in Yang's hands. "That looks lavish and expensive. And it also mentions..."

She stood up and bolted away again, leaving Weiss to catch her laptop before it smashed into the ground.

"You know, this is the most energetic I've seen her since we arrived her," Weiss noted.

Nobody could get in a reply before the girl returned. She held a single pristine red rose in her hand. "A rose! Belle wanted a rose, and the Beast had rose gardens!"

"Adam gave me a belladonna once," Blake reflected darkly as she took the flower. "I hadn't realized that he was a beast. Not yet."

Yang watched as she turned it over in her hands. She told her partner, "We all have some beast inside of us, Blake. You just can't let it take over."

Ruby, meanwhile, had moved onto Weiss. She recited, "Lips red like roses, hair black as ebony, skin white like snow. Yup."

"My hair is white," Weiss reminded her.

"I know, but we can still get two out of three!" Ruby said optimistically. "I got the lipstick and you're already really pale."

She picked up her laptop again and brought up a picture of snow white. "Hmm... blue shirt and yellow skirt... yup!"

"This is going to be horrible," the heiress muttered, resigned to Ruby's antics.

"This is going to be awesome!" Ruby shouted, nearly dropping the laptop once again.

"Careful, you dunce!"

Ruby turned her attention to her sister. She quickly said, "Well, I've got the hair, that's all I need."

"Nu-huh, sis!" Ruby admonished. She pulled the last item out of the bag. "It's not perfect, but it's probably better than what you were going to wear."

"I have fine fashion sense!" Yang snapped jokingly.

"Whatever," Weiss snorted. "Let's just-"

"We're doing a dress rehearsal, so we can see what we're going to look like!"

"Ugh."

* * *

Tatopatato: This is what Gavin is trying to point out.

Firehawk242: I'm actually not familiar with our world records, but I'm willing to bet that the girls could probably beat quite a few of them handily. I have no idea how football scoring works.

jakillking999: Yes, but probably not in this arc.

Guest with Q's: Define confirmed. At what point do you say, okay, this should be impossible, but it _must_ be true?

1\. Gemstone is the actual codename of the task force. I've been semi-jokingly referring to the original OCs as "Team SICBJ" (pronounced Sick Bitch) outside the story, but for obvious reasons it's not a good name. I don't refer to the new OCs by any special name.

2\. I think Ruby would want to do track, Weiss already does a form of fencing, not sure about Blake, and Yang would probably enjoy boxing or a contact sport like football. Out of these, only track is really safe for them to do. If Weiss is careful, fencing should be safe enough, but Yang could kill someone if she loses control.

3\. It's a coincidence, and I'd make some sort of joke about it but I only have a vague idea of who Gavin is.

Guest: I'm honestly not sure what you're trying to say here.

linkthetoaoftime: I'm not sure where, but I think one of them commented on this in Emergence. Strength has very little to do with physique or gender on Remnant, unlike Earth. This is something they know but it's still strange to them.

BbK2442: These chapters are quite short for me as well. I'm quite busy with other things, and I just don't have the time to put out the word count anymore. I figure more chapters more frequently is better than fewer, longer chapters, though I'm still not sure about this decision.


	7. Party Time

The Halloween episode, finally. It did get delayed, and I did cut and rearrange quite a bit. I think this stands better on its own that it does in context, to be honest. But YMMV.

On a side note, "what high school parties are really like" is probably the strangest thing I've had to research, but at least this won't get me on a watch list.

* * *

**7: Party Time**

Little Red Riding Hood stepped merrily down the street, humming a tune that few on Earth would identify. Other than the trademark cape and unusual red-streaked black hair, she looked like a fairly normal 15-year-old girl, with a white T-shirt, dark jeans, and a pair of sneakers. She carried a wicker basket overflowing with candy.

Snow White haughtily followed behind her. Her hair was white as snow instead of black as ebony, although her skin was properly pale and her lips deep red. A blue T-shirt and yellow skirt with light brown heels provided an approximation of the proper outfit. The President's Choice bag in her hands, heavy with candy, was a bit out of place.

Belle, the Beauty, was half a pace behind. Her long black hair seemed out of place, the toque covering it even more so. Her shimmery purple dress and heeled boots were more fitting, even if the colours were totally wrong. The rose attached to her lapel was spot-on. She carried a pair of plastic shopping bags, both full of candy.

Goldilocks strode annoyingly close to her. Her blonde hair, almost yellow, spilled down her back, somehow messy yet immaculate at the same time. The white sweater and long blue skirt were at odds with her tall brown boots. She had one arm around the girl beside her and a pair of shopping bags full of candy in the other.

"I can't believe people actually gave us candy," Weiss said in disbelief, running her fingers through her bag of goodies. "I was under the impression that this was an event for small children."

"Some of them did give us funny looks," Blake commented, pulling out of Yang's embrace. "And some looks of pity. I think they thought we were poor, or had bad childhoods, or something along those lines."

"But we got lots of candy!" Ruby said. As if to prove her point, she pulled out an Aero bar and popped it in her mouth.

"Yep," her sister agreed. She pulled out her phone and checked the time. "It's after nine already. We should probably get to Gavin's place."

* * *

A knock on the door prompted Gavin to put down his beer and answer it. He wondered if it was more guests or kids looking for candy.

"Trick or treat," Yang said with a grin. She held out a bag of candy before turning it around and handing it to him.

Gavin looked at the other three, all dressed up and carrying large amounts of candy. He asked, "You went trick-or-treating?"

Yang shrugged. "Ruby wanted to go, so we did."

He laughed, taking the offered candy. "That's fuckin' hilarious. Come on, party's already started."

They stepped inside. The living room was dark and messy, with several knots of people gathered around. Most of them had a drink in their hand Music blared through the house, and a few girls in revealing costumes were dancing drunkenly to it.

"Well, this looks like fun," Yang commented lightly.

"It's noisy," Blake complained quietly.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed.

"This is not like any party I've been to," Weiss muttered.

Ruby did a dramatic flourish with her cloak. "Well, we came here to have fun, so let's have fun!"

* * *

As the four girls went off to enjoy the party, Aaron tapped his friend on the shoulder. He pointed to the girls. "You realize they dressed up as themselves, right? Or at least the, you know, fairy-tale inspirational characters they're based off of."

Gavin laughed. "How many have you had?"

"Four beers, but that's not the-"

"Yeah, that's a lot for you," he pointed out. "Dude, you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk, just listen." Aaron pointed at Ruby, who was standing awkwardly by the refreshments. She picked up a plastic cup, sniffed the contents, recoiled, and put it back. "Look, it's Little Red Riding Hood. Ruby... red. Ruby wears the cloak cape thing, Little Red Riding Hood wears the cloak cape thing."

"Okay, so? It's a classic fairy tale, lots of people like it." He paused. "I mean, she should have gone for Sexy Riding Hood or Badass Riding Hood or something like that, but whatever."

Aaron sighed and pointed at Blake, who was standing against the wall, carefully watching as she sipped a beer. "Blake. Belle."

"From Beauty and the Beast?" Gavin squinted dramatically. "Not seeing it. Some kind of Disney princess, but not Belle."

"It's Belle. Ask her and she'll tell you it's Belle." Exasperated, he jerked his head toward Yang. "Goldilocks."

"I would have gone with Rapunzel, but either way it's a pretty obvious choice with hair like that," Gavin opined. "I mean, I'm not gay or anything, but if I had hair like that..."

"Dude, you'd only have hair like that if you _were_ gay." Aaron countered. He pointed to the last of the girls. "Weiss Schnee. Snow White."

"Your German is impeccable."

"No, her costume!"

Gavin literally scratched his head at that one. "How are you even getting Snow White? Definitely royalty, but I'd say Elsa or Daenerys before I'd say Snow White."

"Ask them, then!" He waved his arm dramatically, spilling the beer in his hand. "They'll tell you it's Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Belle, and Goldilocks!"

Gavin laughed. "God damn it, man."

"Just look at their costumes," Aaron insisted. "They're terrible and they're not slutty at all. It's like they've never been to a Halloween party before and they threw them together at the last minute."

"Maybe they had fucked up lives before they came here. Maybe they were nerds or maybe they're orphans or something," Gavin laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Look, man, this is funny as hell but you really shouldn't do this conspiracy theory shit when you're smashed."

* * *

Aaron was not content to take his friend's advice. While Gavin went to hit on one of the cheerleaders, he gulped down another cup of beer. Blake was standing on her own near the edge of the room. He was about to approach her when an idea occurred to him.

Blake watched as the football player rifled through a bowl of candy, then turned and approached her with something, presumably candy, behind his back. He revealed it and smirked. "How about a Kit Kat for a kitty cat?"

"That's- I don't get it," she replied angrily. Being hit on in such a racist way made her feel insulted, but she knew she had to hide those feelings.

"It's because..." Aaron began, stopping himself when he realized how stupid his explanation would sound. "Well, you're cute, like a cat, so... well, they're good anyway."

She snatched the bar out of his hand. "Thanks, I guess."

"You never told me what's with the hat-"

Blake heaved a sigh. "You really want to prove I'm some anime character, don't you?"

"Prove me wrong, then," Aaron insisted, smiling. "Tell me who you really are."

She glared at him. "I'm not interested in you."

"You don't even know me," he replied.

"I know that you're dangerously obsessed with fictional characters."

He winked at her. "Was that an admission, _Belladonna_?"

Blake glared back. "Aaron, you're drunk. Nothing you say makes any sense."

"Yeah, you're right," he admitted. "But I do like you, _Bella_, and I do want to get to know you. Come on, don't be so dismissive."

"What do you want to know?" she snapped.

"Well, we could start with something simple, like where you're from."

"Burnaby."

"Burnaby?"

"Were you expecting Vale?"

"Well, no, but Burnaby seems kind of mundane for a girl like you," Aaron said. "I figured maybe Ontario or Alberta."

"No, just Burnaby."

"I noticed you had a book the other day," the boy tried. "What's it about?"

"It's called Let The Trumpet Sound," she replied. "It's about Martin Luther King."

"Not some trashy romance novel?"

"I don't really read those much." She paused. "Aaron, I'm not stupid. I know you're trying to prove I'm really Blake Belladonna. If you go in thinking that, you're going to come to that conclusion no matter who I really am."

"So, the hat is really because..."

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped. Looking for an excuse, she noticed Yang sitting down with a tough-looking boy in the kitchen. "I should check on Yang. She can get a little wild at times."

"Bumblebee," Aaron muttered as she walked away. He thought he saw Blake's hat twitch as she walked away, but dismissed it. They were right, he _was_ already drunk.

* * *

Ruby needed to pee.

The single beer, contaminated punch, and two cans of soda she'd had since the beginning of the night had gone straight through her, and now she needed to find a bathroom. She thought about asking Gavin where it was, but he was busy doing some kind of dance with a girl in a skimpy monkey outfit, so she sneaked off to find it herself.

She hadn't seen many Terran homes, but figured they were similar enough to Remnan ones, so she went upstairs where the bathrooms and bedrooms usually were. The staircase lead to a hallway with six identical doors. She tried the first one and found a dark, empty bedroom.

She tried the second one and found a bedroom that was dark, but not empty.

"Oh god!" She slammed the door shut, turned around, and inadvertently activated her Semblance, leaving a mess of rose petals and nearly slamming into the door at the other end of the hall.

She stumbled around the hallway, picking up rose petals like an automaton as her young mind struggled to comprehend the events she had just witnessed.

Amazingly, she managed not to lose control over her bladder, but she still had to find a bathroom. She knocked on the door she had nearly slammed into. "Hello? Is there anyone in there?"

There was no response, and she carefully opened the door. On the other side was a dirty and smelly, but empty, bathroom. She flushed her armful of rose petals down the toilet before shutting the door and locking it.

* * *

The two opponents bored into each others souls, intent on their enemy yet totally focused on their battle. Their faces contorted with effort. Neither one of them would give an inch to their adversary.

Then Yang winked and effortlessly slammed Darrel's hand onto the table.

"You fucking cheated!" the football player immediately accused. His "action movie hero" costume showed off his powerful arms, at least twice the diameter of his opponent.

"I said I was a boxer," Yang told him, smiling smugly. Like her opponent, she was more than a little tipsy, and it did not do her decision making skills any favours. "Strong arms, upper-body strength."

"Bullshit!" he roared.

"I just don't think you want to admit that you got beaten by a girl," Yang countered smugly.

"Maybe you're not really a girl." Darrel snapped without thinking.

"Maybe you're not really a guy," Yang shot back.

"Fuck you, bitch!" Darrel knew that he shouldn't have thrown the first punch, but he didn't care. Yang had been expecting it, but her reaction was slow, and ended up blocking with her elbow instead of her forearm.

"Hey, look, a fight!" someone shouted. The crowd was already gathering.

Yang stepped back and into a combat stance. Her technique was sloppy and she knew it. Drunk fighting was something she, believe it or not, generally tried to avoid. She noted even in her hazy state that her opponent had no technique whatsoever.

At this point, Ruby returned from the bathroom, and Blake and Weiss arrived to see what the commotion was about. The crimsonette asked her teammates, "What's happening?"

"The hot blonde chick's in a fight with one of the tough guys," a bystander told them.

They shared a look. "Yang."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Weiss muttered. The other two were already pushing through the crowd toward the fight.

Darrel threw another punch and Yang ducked under it, pushing him into the wall hard enough to crack the drywall. Darrel was smart enough- and fast enough- to get out of the way of her next punch, which put a hole in the wall. He charged forward, intent on hitting the girl as hard as he could.

"Yang, no!" Ruby shouted, grabbing her sister's arm before she could drive it into Darrel's face. Blake latched onto the other and they struggled to hold her back. Aaron and Gavin had arrived and grabbed onto Darrel, pulling him away from the girl.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Gavin shouted at his friend.

"Yang, you have to calm down!" Blake shouted at her partner.

"Oh, shit," the fighters said at almost the same time. Darrel realized that he could have done some serious damage to a beautiful girl. Yang realized that she could have lost control and killed him.

"I'm so sorry," Darrel apologized. "I just got so pissed off and, well..."

"It's kind of my fault for provoking you," Yang admitted.

"We cool?" Gavin asked. They nodded. "Alright, try not to kill each other."

"I was holding back, you know," Yang told her teammates.

"Yeah, I know," Ruby told her sister. "It's okay, Yang. Just... try not to do it again, okay?"

"Yeah."

Ruby motioned to Blake, who nodded back. She would keep Yang out of trouble for the rest of the night- after all, it was her job to watch her partner's back.

* * *

"Come on, girl, loosen up," Cleopatra said to Snow White for perhaps the third time this evening. "You're wound up like a fucking spring."

"This environment makes me uneasy," Weiss replied to the dark-skinned girl. Though she was feeling more than a little buzzed and her cheeks were flushed red, her voice was level and carefully controlled.

She shook her head. "You know there's something on your mind. You're wound up like a fucking spring. Come on, just let it out. Let it loose."

"But what about-"

"It's a fucking party. You're supposed to do stupid shit without giving a fuck about what happens after," she told the heiress. "If you're not that kind of person, well, then why the fuck are you here?"

"I don't follow your logic," Weiss replied coldly.

"That's because you haven't had enough yet." The girl handed Weiss another cup of beer. "Relax. Loosen up. That's why you're here."

"I can't just be irresponsible," she said, taking the alcohol anyway. "I have to set an example for..."

"For what? Jesus, girl, you sound like you got the weight of the fuckin' world on your shoulders."

"I _do_ have the weight of the world on my shoulders," Weiss said quietly. "You have no idea how much responsibility my father places on me."

The other girl smirked. "Well, you're here now, aren't you?"

Her head snapped around and she stared at her. "What did you just say?"

"Cleopatra" leaned backward, raising her arms. "Whoa, all I said is that you're here now! Like, despite what your father probably wanted."

"You know, you're right," the heiress replied, smiling. "I'm nobody here. My father isn't here. The company isn't here. I'm a world away, with no hope of going back, so why _should_ I care?"

"Let it out," the other girl urged.

"I'm not responsible for _shit_!" Weiss slammed her fists down on the table, somehow managing to only spill half of the drink in her right hand. Before she realized what she was doing, she was on top of the table.

"Fuck you Siegfried!" the former heiress shouted at the ceiling, waving her cup around and sloshing its contents on the floor. "I'm not your fucking heiress anymore! I don't give a shit about your fucking company! You can't control me anymore, you son of a bitch! I'm a world away and you can't fucking get me! Yob tvoyu maht! Fuck your mother! Fick dich! Fuck you!"

Mixed feelings of self-disgust and elation swirled through her mind. Realizing what she'd just done, she hopped off the table. She muttered to herself, "What have I done," but she was drowned out by the crowd chanting "Fuck Siegfried! Fuck you!"

Gavin leaned over and asked Aaron. "Would Weiss Schnee do that?"

Aaron blinked. "I... don't know."

* * *

"Truth or dare?" Aaron asked, staring into the girl's blue eyes. Or trying too, anyway. It was hard when she had such nice tits.

"We're not playing truth or dare," Yang replied, blinking. "Or wait, are we?"

"We're not, but I want to get a thing out of you."

"Oh." Yang laughed. "I'll go with truth then."

With a surprising amount of coherence, Aaron asked, "Who are you, really?"

Yang looked down, took a deep breath, then answered intensely, "My name is Yang Xiao Long. I was born on the island of Patch, off the coast of Vale, in what would be... I think 1997 by your system. My father is Taiyang Xiao Long and my mother was Raven Branwen, although I believed my stepmother, Summer Rose, was my biological mother for a number of years. I have one sister, Ruby Rose, the child of Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose, born two years later.

"As expected, I demonstrated strong ability at an early age. I discovered my Semblance soon after unlocking my Aura- it's the ability to turn damage into strength. I attended Signal Academy and focused on augmented hand-to-hand combat. I applied to and was accepted into Beacon Academy to train to become a Huntress. During initiation, I became partners with Blake Belladonna and was placed into Team RWBY- led by my sister. The W is for Weiss Schnee, Ruby's partner and heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.

"I completed one term at Beacon. Near the end, there was an... incident. Roman Torchwick, along with the White Fang, was trying to steal a large amount of Dust. I got there too late to do anything, but Ruby, Blake, and this weird Penny girl were involved. Turns out Blake is a Faunus, was part of the White Fang, and generally it was a big mess. I don't remember anything clear past that, and I don't remember starting second term. The earliest clear memory I have after the docks is waking up in an alley in a city in the middle of the desert."

Then she burst out laughing.

"See, she fucking admitted it!" Aaron shouted, his elated words badly slurred. "Best night ever amiright?"

"Dude, she's so obviously making this shit up it's obvious," Gavin told him, also laughing.

"Sis, I think we should go," Ruby said urgently, tugging on her giggling sister's sleeve. Her grip slipped and she fell over.

"Ruby, why are you down there?" Yang asked, still laughing.

"Yang, you're drunk," Blake reminded her.

The blonde held up a finger, digging through the candy bowl for a certain chocolate bar. She found one and waved it in front of Blake. "How about a Kit Kat for my Kitty Cat?"

"Yang," she hissed, snatching the chocolate bar away and tossing it away. "For the third time, it's not funny."

"Fuck yeah Bumblebee!" Aaron shouted.

"I prefer Optimus Prime," Gavin shouted back.

"I miss my bike," Yang said suddenly sadly.

"Yang, you're way too drunk," Ruby said, hauling her sister over her shoulder and nearly falling over in the process. She turned to Gavin. "Sorry, but we need to leave. I can't let my sister have any more."

"This feels familiar," Yang muttered. "Didn't we do this in Moresit... Mursit... that place on the border between the bird country and the one with those evil dudes... ISIS?"

"You're the fucking Bride, too?" Aaron asked. Yang smiled and flashed him a thumbs-up.

"I'm really sorry about this," Blake apologized, helping Ruby with her sister.

"Idiots," Weiss muttered. Of the three, she was probably the most intact, despite what had happened earlier.

"Bye guys," Yang slurred, waving as she was carried out the door.

* * *

Guest: This was the other option I considered. I did a kind of informal poll and most people preferred that they not go as themselves, so that's what I went with.

ODST110: Task Force Gemstone is still around and doing stuff; in fact, originally Team RWBY was going to get a ride home from a tactical response team at the end of the chapter, but I cut the section. The other OCs might appear from time to time, but their role as stars of the story is done. They might have a bigger role in Part 2; we'll see.

Alpha Omega Wolf: Maybe, but those aren't exactly commonly offered.


	8. After the Fall

Capping off the Halloween arc with this short piece. I've been preoccupied with some IRL things, so it's a bit short and late. I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to put in this chapter and even more writing it. This is almost a stopgap and I apologize for that.

The next arc will be either Lest We Forget (1 chapter) or All Expenses Paid (2-3 chapters). Virtual cookies to anyone who can figure out what those two are. There may be a bridge chapter in between.

* * *

**8: After The Fall**

_**Aaron Wong**_

"I fucked up, didn't I?"

I couldn't really drink. I knew it, I understood it, but I always ended up doing it anyway. It was just a stupid thing I did. My memory of the night before was hazy and I couldn't remember anything very well, though I had a distinct feeling I did something stupid. I also had a massive hangover. Leaning my head against my locker never felt better.

"You tell me." Gavin smirked, like the asshole was enjoying it. "What do you remember?"

"Well, I did something stupid with Blake," I replied, still leaning against my comfortable locker. "I think I might have pushed too hard. Asking her about her hat and stuff."

"Yeah, that was pretty stupid," Gavin said honestly.

"It was," I admitted. "But we all do stupid things when we're drunk, right?"

"And..."

"And?"

"Yang?" He reminded me, infuriatingly. "You know, how she totally fucked with you?"

What? "We fucked?"

I could see him struggling not to burst into laughter. "Fucked _with_ you."

"Ah." If I remember correctly, which I didn't, I'd asked her who she really was, and she'd spouted off her life story... well, Yang Xiao Long's life story. "Right."

"She was just fucking with you. You realize she's fucking with you, right?"

I didn't answer. There was an awkwardly long pause.

"You really gotta drop this anime shit," Gavin reminded me. "Just treat them as _people_."

"I know." I'd just grasped onto this idea of these people really being these characters, probably because it's really awesome. "I know."

"You should probably, you know, apologize," Gavin said, managing to be light and serious at the same time.

I thought about it. I knew I should, but I didn't know if I could. I might have done something really stupid, and they might not want to talk to me at all. I answered honestly. "I dunno, we'll see."

The bell rang. Time to go to class. Art... with Blake Bella- Bella Blake.

* * *

_**Weiss Schnee**_

I felt, to put it in the local vernacular, like shit.

I knew I'd lost control at the party. I'd had far too much alcohol, I'd lost my temper and raged, I did things I regret. I knew I shouldn't have done them at the time, but I just didn't care.

Truth be told, we never should have gone to that idiotic party to begin with. Ruby said that we should experience what Earth's culture was really like, and I had reluctantly agreed. Yang loved parties. Blake didn't say anything.

But in a way, I felt conflicted. I'd done something incredibly stupid and embarrassing, yet nothing had changed. Nothing had _happened_. It wasn't what everyone was talking about. Nobody was gossiping about how Anna Weiss made a fool of herself. My face wasn't plastered all over the news with the headline "Schnee Heiress Embarrasses."

I knew that there were consequences in life- I was expecting to get a nice chat from Gemstone any moment now- but it was so strange to be out of the public eye. I didn't have to be an example. Didn't have to be perfect. Because here, I'm not Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I'm just-

"Anna?" Vicki said, waving her hand in front of my face. "Earth to Anna?"

I blinked. "Sorry?"

"You kinda zoned out," she told me.

"I was just thinking about the party last night," I replied honestly. That's what normal girls thought about, right?

"Regrets, huh?"

"Kind of."

"Did you, well, you know," she leaned closer. "Do it?"

Daffodil rolled her eyes. "It's just sex, Vicki. You act like you're five sometimes."

"No!" I retorted. "I just got a little drunk and may have done something embarassing."

"I know that feeling," Vicki replied. "I try not to do that anymore."

"Whose party?" Lisa asked, leaning past Vicki.

"Gavin Lloyd."

"The football player?" I detected a hint of disdain in her voice.

"You should come to our party next time," Vicki told me. "They're much more refined. Have you ever been to a _mansion_ before, Anna?"

"No, I haven't," I lied. In fact, most of the parties I had attended had been at the Schnee Castle, which I'm sure is leagues beyond what she meant.

"Well, it's great," she said haughtily. "We have a proper bar, and a pool, and-"

"Okay, time for business," the teacher interrupted as she hurried into the room. I checked my watch. Two minutes late. "Let's get started now."

* * *

ODST110: Never heard of it, had to look it up but there isn't a lot of information around. I guess I can see the parallels, but the context is a bit different.

linkthetoaoftime: It's on the list of things they should have said but didn't occur to them at the time. I actually planned the venting for much later but threw it into that chapter, and I'm not sure if I should have or not.

Tatopatato: That's the idea.

Firehawk242: Or are they?

bhark3: Unfortunately for those kinds of things, they seem to still be trying to keep RWBY family-friendly. I really feel they should give up all pretences and go for the darker, more mature show- not only is it what I want to see but it seems to also be what they really want to make. But that's a much longer discussion for another day.

Guest: And Aaron, as a professional drunk conspiracy theorist, would be taken seriously by no one.

Fourze: It's probably actually best if they don't, since interrupting would imply a reason to stop her, but they didn't think of that at the time, being completely wasted.


	9. Two Weeks

Yes, it's a bridge chapter. Looking at the timing, I think the next real chapter is going to be Lest We Forget. Then a possible bridge chapter, then All Expenses Paid. After that, I'm not sure, and then they'll go off to Christmas holiday, which is already written.

* * *

**9: Two Weeks**

_**Ruby Rose**_

Two weeks passed fast. We settled into a routine and everything just became kinda normal. I mean that kind of thing already happened when I got here and everyone else got here, but I guess I still wasn't expecting all this to become routine so fast.

Get up, shower, make breakfast. We ate a lot because Earth food isn't very nutritious- we've have a lot of bread, usually some bacon that was sometimes microwave, a can or two of fruit, and on a good day we'd make eggs or pancakes.

Go to school. It wasn't too far, so we just walked. We moved at a brisk pace and I knew there were people watching, but we didn't really notice. If we were alone we could talk openly about Remnant and stuff.

Morning classes. The blocks rotated so they were sometimes different and sometimes we had to split up and sometimes we didn't. Sometimes I had classes I liked like Engineering or PE but sometimes it was Social Studies which was interesting but kind of boring or Science which was just boring.

Lunch break. Sometimes we packed lunch, sometimes we bought it. Buying lunch was pretty expensive but they said we didn't have to worry about it but I felt bad about spending so much money. Usually we just stayed together, sometimes we'd go for a walk, sometimes we'd talk to Gavin and his crew but Gavin like Yang and Aaron was weird.

Afternoon class. It was basically like the morning except we were more tired and we wanted to go home. We didn't have any clubs or anything yet, so when class was over we were finished.

Relaxing. Usually we'd watch news or educational programs on TV to learn more about Earth, but sometimes we just wanted some entertainment and that meant comedy that we didn't understand before we discovered sci-fi and fantasy and now we usually watched that for entertainment because we could understand it better. But sometimes we tried comedy anyway. And then there was the Internet which was really good for learning and wasting time.

Dinner. None of us were very good at cooking so usually it was frozen pizzas or TV dinners or other quick packaged food that was really popular here. Sometimes we wanted to order out and we did once but it was expensive and not very good.

Homework. It was a really light load compared to Beacon and we got a lot done at school. Apparently a lot of people didn't bother at all which was kind of bad but I guess it's a culture thing.

Bed time. We all slept in one room, in four separate beds obviously. Usually we still had lots of energy so we didn't really sleep well and sometimes we'd just talk for hours which was bad but we weren't going to sleep anyway.

So much was different, but so much was the same. Vancouver was a really safe place, even though there are bad parts and some people say it isn't. There were no Grimm and even the criminals weren't very dangerous to us. But we still went to school, tried to pay attention in class, tried to make new friends and have fun just like at Beacon. It was more like

I mean, there were still a lot of doubts and stuff that normal people didn't worry about. Not using our Semblances, not using Aura overly. Limiting ourselves and staying under control. Using fake names and fake places. Not saying things that would be weird for Earth. But even when we said weird stuff or did weird stuff most people didn't even care.

We had different views on life on Earth. I thought there was still lots of interesting stuff to look at and do and I was excited for that but it definitely wasn't as exciting in the same way as Remnant. Weiss acted like she didn't care but I noticed she was a lot more nice and open now, Blake said she found Earth interesting, but I knew my sister was really kind of bored and not the same anymore.

But I guess this is just what life is like now. It's so weird but so normal at the same time.

_**Aaron Wong**_

I tried my best to forget about the whole Bella Blake equals Blake Belladonna thing and treat her like a normal (if new) person. Maybe part of it was because she looked like Blake, but I really did want to get to know her. It was hard, though, because although she wasn't a mean bitch or anything, she didn't talk and didn't like talking. I think she was intentionally avoiding me, even.

I had English with Anna, but she was cold and distant and didn't want to talk much. Oddly, though, she seemed fairly relaxed, which I guess made sense if you didn't constantly compare her to Weiss. Yang could be fun, but she had a really weird thing with Gavin and sometimes didn't want to talk. Ruby was... well, basically like Ruby. Excited and hyper, but lots of kids her age are.

They're no different than us, really. The new people are basically like the old people. Everybody's different, but it's not like they're crazy or anything. Sometimes they said or did weird stuff, but when I thought about it, I wasn't exactly a paragon of normalcy either.

Of course, there was that voice in the back of my mind reminding me that this very possibly _really was_ RWBY. Gavin told me to tell that voice to shut up. While it didn't shut up completely, I did manage to shut it out if we're gonna keep using that metaphor. Maybe I was being irrational, putting together pieces that are sort of there into something that doesn't make sense. But do I really have to be?

I'm seventeen, having the time of my life, doing stupid things, having fun and making mistakes. Logical, rational thought isn't really how I'm working right now. In a way, I guess I'm just going with the flow, while I still can. A wise man once said to worry about today today and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

Well, maybe he wasn't that wise after all.

_**Connor Lloyd**_

Ruby is strange. Maybe even the strangest girl I've ever met... not that I've ever talked to a girl for more than a minute. Maybe that's what's weird- that she doesn't seem to mind me. I mean, I don't think she _likes_ me, but it's not like I know how to tell.

She's the fastest one in my PE class. Not the fastest girl, the fastest, period. In fact, she's probably the best athlete in the class. She can jump higher, throw harder, and lift more than anyone else. Almost like she's on another level compared to everyone else. On the other hand, I've only seen it here and there, like she's limiting herself. Maybe she just doesn't want the attention, I mean, one time I tried to pretend I was dumb in math.

And she's kind of become my defender in that class, as weird as it is. She told those bullies to back off and they usually don't try anything when she's around. I mean, I'm progressive, and I'm happy to have my knightess in shining armour, but it kind of looks bad for me. I told her that and she said it was silly, and she told me about a fairy tale which I'm pretty sure only exists in feminist magazines. So she's weird, but she's really nice, so I guess it's okay.

She's also in my science class, and I wonder what their curriculum was like in her old school because she knew about some things and had no clue about others. She was really confused by the chemistry stuff, but most of it's new for Grade 10 so that makes sense. She said she already knew most of the physics we did but messed up most of the symbols. She also seemed to really be fascinated by space, which is cool because most girls don't like space, but didn't know much about it.

I don't see her outside of class much, though, because she hangs out with these older kids. I recognized one of them as the blonde girl, Yang, my brother likes. I tried to ask him about it but he denied it, of course. I'm surprised that they weren't already dating, I mean, my big bro is a football player and he's like super popular and awesome and stuff and usually girls are all over him.

I wish I was more like my big brother, but I guess I just lost the genetic lottery because I'm nothing like him. He tells me I'm the smart one, I'm the one with the brighter future, that I've got so many things going for me. At some level I know it but it's looking pretty dark when the bullies come and you've got no friends and you don't even understand how dating works.

Ruby's definitely been brightening things up, but I have a bad feeling about it, like it's all going to come crashing down. And there's something weird about her I just couldn't place.

* * *

ODST110: I, uh... I really have no idea what you're trying to say.

TheMAO17: I've never watched any, but I suspect it would seem fairly mild to RWBY.

Guest: Yeah, kind of...

JXA3422: I guess I probably should know better, but I don't exactly have any idea what I'm doing when it comes to sports.


	10. An Announcement

As you all probably know by now, Monty Oum is dead.

I understand on an intellectual level what many of you are going through. My own feelings can be described as _kind of sad_; I never knew him beyond "the guy who created RWBY", unlike a lot of the community. I do not mean to be impolite or insensitive.

But... I have practical considerations to be concerned about. Emergence is in the unique situation where this actually has an effect on the story. It doesn't wreck it like the teacher strike shattered the original plan, but it does still have implications.

Aliens Among Us is currently in November 2014. It's currently February 2015. So we're not there yet. But we will get there within the next few months.  
Monty Oum will die in universe. There will be much poorly-written navel gazing and possibly some feels.  
I'm going to try to be sensitive and respectful about it, but keep in mind that this story has, so far, had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face.  
It will slightly affect Emergence Part 2, but really only the second arc.  
It probably won't affect Emergence beyond Part 2, because at that point we've moved on to much grander ambitions.

I'm more worried about the shift in tone that could accompany the Wham Episode than changes in the plotline; the plot is fairly secure, but things might edge toward grimdark.


	11. Lest We Forget

This has been delayed because of the semi-special episode being written at the same time. If you haven't seen that, it's called Death of a Friend. I'll admit that this chapter isn't so great. It was very difficult to write and I actually ended up starting the next before hurriedly wrapping this one up. There was a lot I wanted to do, but the words just wouldn't flow and I'm sorry.

Because of FFn's forced chapter numbering and a desire to keep the announcement, I've skipped Chapter 10 and made this Chapter 11. This is actually a serendipitous coincidence given the contents of this chapter.

This chapter will probably be a lot more familiar to readers from Commonwealth countries than readers from the United States.

I couldn't find good information on the actual ceremony carried out in Vancouver. This is based on an official guide and the opening remarks are adapted from an old Toronto speech. It's been a while since I've been to one so it's not terribly accurate.

Sadly, there are many who really do not understand or care about what Remembrance Day is really about. Though I do think this is a bad thing, I do understand why.

* * *

**11: Lest We Forget**

Yang, Blake, and Weiss followed Gavin and his friends through the hallway. They didn't really know where they were going, but apparently there was an assembly or something, and the locals seemed to know what they were doing, so they followed.

"Hey! I'm here, guys!" Ruby shouted from the other end of the hall, standing up and waving. She zipped through the crowd and emerged between Yang and Weiss. "Are you heading to the assembly."

"Hell no," Aaron said, laughing.

Gavin laughed. "You weren't really going to go to that assembly, are you?"

"Uh, aren't we supposed to?" Ruby asked, more confused than anything.

Gavin laughed. "Nah, nobody goes to assemblies."

"They're not important?" Weiss asked, almost asking if they were important _here_.

"Nah. Come on, I know a place." As a group, they kept going, heading away from the gym. The crowds started to thin out and they quickly found themselves in an empty hallway.

"Is this really a good idea?" Ruby whispered to her teammates.

"When in Rome..." Blake muttered.

Yang heard it. "What?"

"It means when in a foreign land, do the same things the locals do. I think."

"That makes sense."

"This is it," Gavin said, stopping in front of a door that looked like any of the other ones. He twisted the handle and it opened immediately. "Tada!"

They filed into the room and Gavin shut the door behind them.

"What if we get caught?" Weiss asked. Of the three girls, she was most concerned with the blatant disrespect for authority.

"We're not going to get caught," Aaron assured them.

"So... what are we missing?" Yang asked carefully.

"What?"

"Remembrance Day assembly," Aaron told her. "Duh."

She nodded in understanding, even though none of them actually knew what they were missing. Each of them thought about asking, but decided not to. Instead, they watched as he leaned back against a desk and pulled a tablet out of his backpack. "Oh, holy shit, some crazy dude stabbed a bunch of people in Israel."

* * *

The crowds were thick for the solemn occasion. Near the back was a crimson-haired girl in bright red standing beside a taller girl with long blonde hair and a matching outfit, a short girl with oddly white hair dressed in white, and a taller one with deep black hair in black and deep purple.

The beginning of the ceremony was marked by a pop and nasty feedback screech that reverberated through the PA system. Following that, a deep, confident voice announced, "Today, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at the eleventh hour, we gather to remember.

"We remember those who served our country in times of need. We remember the service and the sacrifices of more than one and a half million Canadian soldiers, sailors, aircrew, and merchant seamen in wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations around the world. We stop to think how much that Canadian families have sacrificed, while their loved ones served overseas.

"As I look across the crowd here today, I see that the faces of our armed forces and of our veterans are changing - there are now many more young women and men who have served Canada since the Second War, and since the Korean Conflict.

"Whether on peacekeeping duties worldwide or in disaster zones and trouble spots at home and abroad, thousands of new veterans have answered our call and protected our interests. Some returned broken in mind, body, or spirit. Some did not return with their lives.

"Many were killed and injured on peacekeeping duties. Over 150 have died, and hundreds more were wounded, in Afghanistan alone fighting to bring freedom and hope to the people of that war-torn nation. As we stand here today, in peace and in safety, we remember those who have served us and sacrificed for us.

"Those who are serving at home and abroad today… we thank you. Those who have served – including those who are here with us today… we thank you. Those who have served and never returned… we thank you."

He finished, "Canada remembers. Vancouver remembers. We remember."

"This is like the Day of the Defenders," Ruby whispered. She didn't get a chance to elaborate.

There was a pause before a sharp woman's voice took over.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow  
Between the crosses, row on row,  
That mark our place; and in the sky  
The larks, still bravely singing, fly  
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

"We are the Dead. Short days ago  
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,  
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie  
In Flanders Fields.

"Take up our quarrel with the foe:  
To you from failing hands we throw  
The torch; be yours to hold it high.  
If ye break faith with us who die  
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow  
In Flanders Fields."

"It's a beautiful poem, in a sad way," Blake remarked quietly.

Another pause, then a young man recited the Act of Remembrance.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

"We will remember them," the crowd echoed.

"Reverend Quincy Hart will now recite a prayer in honour of the fallen. We ask that you be respectful regardless of your personal beliefs."

"We give praise and thanks to you O Lord of Hosts, for all that makes our common life secure: for reverence for things holy, for respect for our fellow humans, for the humility that leads us to draw on your strength.

"We thank you for the peace we enjoy and for the opportunity that is ours of building a better order of society in this Canada for the generations still to come.

"We remember with pride and gratitude those who fought on the land, the sea and in the skies to make this possible, and we pray that the memory of their self-giving may inspire us to invest our energy, our strength and our substance in building a world where the Angel Dove of Peace may fly freely and safely, and may do it, O God, for your sake and for all our sakes.

"Amen."

"Amen," most of the crowd echoed. Unfamiliar with the custom, the four girls did not.

"Oops," Yang whispered. "Were we supposed to-"

She was interrupted by a bugler playing The Last Post, a bugle call which in this context symbolized death. None of the four understood the meaning, but they did understand that it was meant to be solemn.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now observe the two minutes of silence. Please remove or retain your headdress and bow your head as your convictions dictate."

Blake felt a small twinge of shame about keeping her hat on. In her case, it had nothing to do with spiritual beliefs or personal values and everything to do with that cat ears underneath. She bowed her head with the other four and everyone else attending.

Quickly, their young minds began to wander. Ruby began thinking about Summer and everyone back on Remnant. Weiss alternated between the attacks on her family and the fighting in Donetsk. Blake remembered her time in the White Fang. Yang went back to Raqqa.

Fortunately, the two minutes were short. Their thoughts were interrupted by the Reveille, though they didn't know what it was called. It was immediately followed by a female voice reading,

"They were young, as we are young,  
They served, giving freely of themselves.  
To them, we pledge, amid the winds of time,  
To carry their torch and never forget.  
We will remember them."

The four girls joined the crowed as they echoed in a rolling mumble, "We will remember them."

"We will now begin the laying of the wreaths." This was accompanied by a slow, sad music, and the announcements of various representatives. Representing the Queen. Representing the Government of Canada. The Province of British Columbia. The City of Vancouver. The Canadian Forces. The Royal Canadian Legion. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association. Others.

It took a long time to lay all the wreaths.

The voice concluded, "Individuals and representatives other organizations not on the official list may lay their own wreaths after the conclusion of the ceremony. Reverend Quincy Hart will now read the Benediction."

After a pause and some shuffling sounds, the same voice that had read the previous prayer at the beginning said, "The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen."

"Amen."

"Please stand for the playing of the National Anthem." By now, the words had become familiar to the four girls, and their voices rang out along with everyone else.

"Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the 2014 Remembrance Day proceedings. Thank you for gathering today to remember."

* * *

The girl in red waited patiently in line, flanked by her three teammates. Among the drably dressed people around them, their bright colours stood out. It may have been more appropriate to a jubilant occasion than a solemn day of remembrance on Earth, but Remnans, especially those from Vale, had a different view.

They didn't have to wait long before the crowd thinned out, the stoic, the sobbing, and the indifferent having placed their personal or organizational monuments to the dead. Hesitantly, the girl in red unwrapped an odd wreath and stepped toward the cenotaph.

"I know we're not even from the same planet," Ruby said quietly to the cenotaph as she fumbled with the multicoloured wreath. "But where we come from, fighting for those who can't is really important. So, uh, thank you. From the huntsmen and huntresses and the people of Remnant."

She took a hesitant step backward, then, silently, turned and left, followed by the other three.


	12. Learning

A chapter full of classroom slices with some of the OCs that haven't been getting a lot of screen time. Hopefully. They are very thing slices, I know. They were longer, but most social interactions aren't actually as substantial as they often are in fiction. We don't have to make every scene count. On the other hand, this is a story. We _do_ have to make every scene count.

It's a difficult balance to strike. Please leave your thoughts in a review.

Next chapter is either another slices chapter, or, more likely, the first part of the next arc.

* * *

**12: Learning**

"Okay, so today we'll be going to the lab and starting the environmental disaster project," the science teacher announced, handing out thin packages. "Today, I want you to get into partners- you can choose your own partner- and when we go to the lab you can start researching and find out what you want to do."

And that was the part he hated.

Connor watched as everyone partnered up with their friends, as they did in every class. He only had a few friends, and none in this class. He was always the odd one out. Sometimes that meant he had to work on his own, which was okay, and sometimes the teacher would put him with another pair, which sucked because they didn't want him.

Having to do it for one class sucked. Having to do it for the next month would be unbearable.

"Hey, Connor." It was that girl, Ruby. "Wanna be partners?"

Maybe not today. He smiled. "Sure."

Connor hurriedly stuffed his books into his backpack and zipped it up. Ruby waited impatiently beside him- she was a ball of energy that wanted to get going. As soon as he had his backpack halfway on, the girl grabbed his arm and dragged him after the other students.

"Ruby, slow down!" he said, panicking. The crimsonette was both faster and stronger than she looked- or maybe he was just weak and slow.

"Sorry!" She let go and slowed to a walking pace. "So, uh, have you thought about the project?"

"Yeah," he replied, now nervous about talking to her. He stayed ahead as they entered the computer lab.

"I don't know much about environmental stuff," Ruby admitted, sitting down beside him. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to do something really big, like a big bad event, not like a slow process," Connor said nervously as he logged into the computer. "So maybe something like Deepwater Horizon, or Fukushima."

"I don't know what either of those are," Ruby admitted. She pulled out her laptop and started it.

"Deepwater Horizon was an oil well that blew out a few years ago and made a huge mess of the Mexican Gulf," Connor explained, bringing up a pair of Wikipedia pages and snapping a window to each half of the screen (Aero Snap FTW). "Fukushima Daiichi was a nuclear meltdown in Japan after the earthquake three years ago."

"Let's do the one with the weird name," Ruby suggested. "That nuclear stuff I don't know much about, and it sounds interesting."

* * *

"Hmm... you've already done the collaborative story, but I booked the netbooks anyway," the teacher, Mr. Johnson, mused. "I guess we'll start on the compare-contrast assignment, then."

He started writing the vague requirements on the board, pausing midway through to announce, "Oh, and this one will be in groups of two as well."

Soon, all but two students were paired up. Aaron smiled. Weiss scowled. "_You_."

"What?" he protested.

"I don't like you. I don't want to work with you," Weiss snapped. She paused, remembering that she had hated Ruby at first, too. "But we have to work together, and I'm willing to give this a chance."

Aaron blinked. "Uh... okay. It's just one assignment."

"Of course," Weiss replied icily. "Do you know what we're doing?"

He told her, reading off the board, "Writing a compare and contrast essay between any chapter of The Things They Carried and either the excerpt from Platoon or the excerpt from Flight of the Intruder."

She looked at the board and cringed. "Ugh. Why are the instructions so vague?"

"It's Johnson," Aaron shrugged. "He gives really vague instructions, but he's a really easy marker."

The heiress folded her arms. "If he can't create clear requirements and mark properly based on them, then he shouldn't be teaching."

"Are you always this, well, you know-"

"Not always!" Weiss snapped. "You were just, well, you keep trying to prove that we're fictional characters. That's pretty fucking creepy."

"Not anymore!" he protested. He _did_ screw up, but he was _trying_ to get over it. "Let's just get started."

* * *

Though she didn't show it, Vicki was nervous. She had been hoping to get partnered up with either Lisa or one of the nicer boys, but the teacher had paired people up at random. That meant she was working with the new girl, who was an odd mix of elegant and feminine and punk and tomboyish. She wore a toque that clashed with her hair.

"I'm Blake. Bella Blake," the girl with the hat introduced. She smiled nervously. "I'm new here."

"That's a bit of a strange outfit, don't you think?" Vicki asked tactlessly.

"I'm not really into fashion."

"Do you ever take off your hat?"

"No."

"You should really consider-"

"No."

"Okay, sensitive about the hat, sorry," Vicki raised her hands. "Do you have like burns under there or something?"

Blake glared at her. "Look, if you don't ask about me, I won't ask about you."

"Sorry, sorry," Vicki apologized, realizing that Blake was probably one of those screwed up kids from a bad household. "I'll stop asking."

"Thank you."

"But you do know who I am, right?"

She looked over the girl. Weiss had talked about her- apparently she was a bit snobby, but probably not as well-off as she tried to act. Like a partially inverted Weiss. "You're Vicki, right?"

"That's right."

"You have business class with Anna Weiss, right?"

"The girl with the white hair? Yeah." Vicki mused, "Hey, I wonder why she dyes it white. I mean, I guess she can pull it off, but it's kind of weird, you know?"

"Not really," Blake replied, chuckling inwardly. _So much weirder than you think._

"Eh, let's just get started."

"Agreed."

* * *

"We have the netbooks today, we're going to be doing an in-class writing assignment," the teacher announced, wheeling a cart with a printer on top into the room. "So line up and grab a netbook- make sure it's not one of the dead ones."

The class lined up by the cart. Most of the students just grabbed the first laptop they saw, disconnecting the power and taking it back to their desks. The teacher unrolled a pair of cables from the cart and plugged them into the wall.

"Okay, we will be partnering up today," he announced just as Yang finished selecting one of the blue plastic computers. "Just get a partner- try to find someone you haven't worked with before, but you're free to choose who you want."

"Hey, Yang, wanna work together?" Gavin asked, carelessly waving his netbook.

Yang quickly weighed her options. On one hand, Gavin obviously had the hots for her, and she wasn't sure if she liked that or not. On the other hand, she at least knew him, and could end up stuck with someone worse. And he was still pretty hot. "Sure, why not?"

"Alright." They sat down together near the edge of the room.

"Okay, today you will be writing a story collaboratively. This is more a creative thing, and it's just one period, so I'm not going to set any rules or be especially critical. Not big, either, maybe... about five hundred words. Hmm... well, you have to incorporate a certain theme and a certain setting."

The teacher paused, looking contemplative, then wrote _rivalry_ on the board. "I want you to explore rivalry in some way. It could be rivalry as a good thing, or rivalry as a bad thing, or... well, just do what you feel with it."

He paused again, then wrote _fall_ beside it. "Fall. It's not a setting in the sense of a place, but remember that setting covers things like time and environment as well. So this is your setting."

"Just submit it into the share drive when you're done... no it's not working today, email it to me. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just work together and let your ideas flow."

After the teacher was finished, Gavin said to Yang, "Great. I suck at writing stories,"

"Why is that?" Yang asked, curiously raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not very creative," Gavin told her. "I can toss a football, I can twist a Marette, but coming up with ideas is another thing. They say look at your own life, but, well..."

"I thought you did football and had parties and stuff. That seems pretty interesting."

"It's fun, but not the kind of stuff you can make a story about. Not enough explosions." He laughed and turned to her, "What about you? Ideas?"

She laughed. "Not unless you want poorly-disguised fanfiction."

"Think that litfag will notice?" Gavin asked quietly.

She shook her head. "No, probably not."

"Hey, uh, Mister Johnson, what if we interpret the theme or setting or whatever wrong?" a girl asked from the other side of the room.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? There's no wrong interpretation. Do what you feel you want to do."

"So, uh, how are you at typing?" Gavin asked his partner.

"Not very."

"Okay, I guess I'll do it then. So, how do we start this?"

Yang started to put the pieces together in her mind. "Okay, once upon a time, there was a white-haired princess. Uh, she needs a name-"

Gavin stopped typing and spat out the name of the first monarch he could think of. "Catherine?"

She shook her head. "Not sharp enough."

"Uh... Elizabeth?"

"Better. A white-haired princess named Elizabeth. Just outside her, uh, I guess it would be a palace, there's a girl with red hair named, uh... Crimson Flowers." She waited for Gavin to stop typing.

"Do you think we could make it a floating palace?" Gavin half-joked.

"Sure, why not," Yang replied. "One day, they meet..."

* * *

bhark3: What is Remembrance Day like in Australia? I know about ANZAC Day but I wasn't aware that it was the more significant of the two dates.

ODST110: I know about Veterans' Day, and my impression is/was that it's not a big deal like Remembrance Day is for us.

HiroNinja: Realism in the sense of how people interact is one of my main focuses for this fic, and I'm glad that I'm getting that right.


	13. All Expenses Paid

When it comes to technology and capabilities, I'm mostly making wild guesses. RWBY is very difficult for this because there's so little information and a lot of it is grossly inconsistent.

This is the first chapter of Aliens Among Us with sections cut because I didn't have time to write them. I, uh... I guess that's not really a good thing, is it?

Remember, there's a TVTropes page! I can't link it here, but if you search for _RWBY Emergence TVTropes_, you should be able to find it.

* * *

**13: All Expenses Paid**

The Learjet 40 sat on the runway with one engine running. It was owned by a shell company that eventually led to the Central Intelligence Agency. The pilots aboard routinely flew passengers that they weren't allowed to ask ask about. Still, they couldn't help but think these ones were a bit _odd_.

They ran through their checklist as the four passengers climbed aboard. None of them had ever flown on a private jet before. The last one in, a girl in a red hoodie packing a large duffel bag, shut the door behind her.

"I know this isn't exactly a fun trip, but I'm still really excited," Ruby said to nobody in particular, excitedly strapping herself into the leather seat. "I love airplanes!"

Weiss disagreed. "I hate them."

"You've only been on one, Weiss," she reminded her.

"And I hated it," she insisted. Grudgingly, she admitted to herself that it hadn't been as bad as she had expected, and that this airplane was a lot more comfortable.

"Yeah, but you flew economy class," Yang reminded her. "From what I've heard, economy class is horrible."

Blake reminded them, "Still better than the cargo hold."

"Oh, right, you sneaked onto a plane," Yang remembered. She leaned back as the plane came to a stop at the end of the runway. "Wow, that really must have sucked."

"You don't know the half of it."

"Everyone strapped in back there?" the pilot called from the front of the plane.

"Yes, captain!" Ruby shouted back enthusiastically, shooting off a mock salute.

He laughed. "Alright, then. Let's get this show on the road."

Ruby grinned as the pilots throttled the engines up, pushing the little jet forward and racing down the runway. Soon, they felt it lift off the ground. "Whee! Isn't it fun, Weiss?"

Her partner rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat. "You're so childish."

* * *

"Welcome to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory," a small man in a grey suit greeted as they stepped out of the car. His hair was startlingly messy, and he looked fairly young, in his late twenties or thirties. "I'm Neil Olson."

He shook hands with each of the girls in turn before waving for them to follow. "With me, please. I'm sure you have many questions."

"What do you do, Mister Olson?" Ruby asked, following him into the large, foreboding grey building.

"I'm from DARPA- that's the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency," he explained, stopping to show his ID to the security guards. "I'm the head of the Spectrum Project."

"Spectrum Project?" Weiss asked.

"It's a catch-all for everything to do with you guys- your technology, your biology, and... well, basically just that. Strategy and culture are other groups," Olson told them. "Small team, really secret, looking at some really cool stuff- it's actually kind of awesome. Reminds me of Stargate- that show's what got me into DARPA in the first place."

"But enough about my story," he concluded, swiping a card and allowing the girls into a high-tech lab. "We're gonna show you around, show you what we've found, and, yeah, we've got a few questions for you, actually."

"Wow..." Ruby breathed, trying to take in everything around her. There were lots of big, fancy looking machines with blinking lights making strange noises. Computer screens were scattered around the room. A dozen people carried out complex operations on experimental apparatuses that meant nothing to the four girls.

"Yeah, it's pretty impressive, isn't it?" Olson said proudly.

"We're not scientists," Weiss pointed out.

"You still know a lot more about this stuff than we do," a man in a lab coat said quickly, looking up from his work. The first thing they noticed was his long hair in a ponytail. The second thing they noticed was that the hair was grey with age. Although he had the mannerisms and part of the look, he was not a young man.

"This is Dr. Jared Diaz, one of the three scientists looking at Dust," Olson nodded to Weiss. "Thank you for providing those samples, by the way."

"And what a fantastic substance it is," he said in a manner that reminded the girls of Dr. Oobleck. "High energy potential. Self-aligning crystalline structure. And we're still not even sure exactly what it's made out of."

He zipped forward, whipping around and staring at Weiss. "I heard you are our resident Dust expert, Miss Schnee. What can you tell me?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," she replied, leaning back from the man she honestly found was kind of creepy. "My family owns the largest Dust company on Remnant, but I'm far from a scientist."

"Ah, so it would be like asking the CEO of ExxonMobil about drilling. Disappointing, but not unexpected. I suppose I shall ask anyway, for there must be something you know."

He grabbed an iPad off the table, glanced at it, then put it back. "No, that's not mine, that's the young guy's."

He zipped back to his workstation and picked up a different tablet, adjusting his glasses before asking, "Where does Dust come from?"

"It's mined."

"I know that!" he exclaimed, not rudely, but bluntly. "But where does it come from? Is it a fossil fuel? Created by radioactive decay? Is it star stuff?"

"I don't know," Weiss replied much more slowly. "Nobody knows. Most people just accept that it's always been there. But there's theories-"

He perked up. "Which theories?"

"Well, that it's a manifestation of the good in the world, the light or something like that. Then there are those that believe it was left to us by one deity or another-"

"These are not theories!" he objected. "These are not even hypotheses! I meant scientific theories!"

"Ooh! What about the shattered moon one?" Ruby suggested.

He moved uncomfortably close to the crimsonette. "Shattered moon?"

"That's the theory that Dust came from our moon, raining down on the planet when it was shattered," Weiss explained reluctantly. "But we don't even know that our moon is shattered, or if it's some odd illusion."

"You've never been there?"

"Of course not!"

"With the energy potential of Dust, you could have enough delta-V with a very small rocket! It would be easy... well, still complex, but not technically unfeasible... Well, nevermind... next question!"

With a flourish, he asked, "What is the composition of Dust?"

"It's, uh... I have no idea," Ruby answered.

Weiss shrugged.

"Don't look at us," Yang answered for herself and Blake.

"Ah, it was worth a shot. I suppose that young man owes me some money now... right then! How is Dust processed?"

"It's ground up, blended, and sometimes transmuted with the application of energy," Weiss replied. "A lot of it used to be done by hand and involved using Aura, but now it's all done by machines."

"Right, that brings us to the next question. How is Dust activated?"

"By Aura- that's the oldest method," Weiss replied. "Someone with the right skills and knowledge can manipulate Dust in a lot of ways. But now, Dust is part of our technology, and it's usually activated electrically, although I think it can be done with other forms of energy as well."

"Of course, that was one of the first things we figured out," the doctor said. He suddenly flipped the cover back over his tablet and tucked it under his arm. "Right, girls, thank you for trying to be useful... okay, that sounded bad... well, I'm sure Gunny will want to see you as soon as possible, bye now!"

* * *

The drab field with a single corrugated trailer and small shade canopy was in stark contrast to the high-tech science lab they had left half an hour earlier. As they trudged through the field, the girls realized that there was what looked like a set of targets and a few obstacles arranged near the trailer.

"Hey, you must be RWBY. Welcome to the fucking science lab," a tall, powerfully built dark-skinned man with fuzzy grey hair greeted. "I'm Leroy Wendall, but everyone around here just calls me Gunny."

"You don't look like a scientist, mister- Gunny," Ruby mentioned. She knew that looks could be deceiving, but less so on Earth.

"You'd be right," he confirmed. "I'm a Marine- retired, now. I served in Desert Storm- technically, I served in the second Gulf War, too, but by that point I was way behind the lines. I was a Gunnery Sergeant when I got out- that's why they call me Gunny."

Ruby asked him, "What do you do here?"

"I'm trying to figure out how your fucking guns work," he explained. "Firearms are my passion- I discovered that in the Corps. After I got out, I went into engineering, graduated, got a job with Remington, and then I ended up here."

"So... uh, what are we doing out here?" Yang asked, motioning to the area around them.

"I wanna take a look at your fuckin' weapons, first of all. Then I wanna see what you can do."

The retired Marine led them to a table set up under the tent. "Alright, just lay out those things."

"It'll be okay, sweetheart," Ruby whispered as she lay her High Caliber Sniper Scythe on the table.

"Sweetheart?"

Ruby flushed in embarrassment. "Oh... hehe... sorry, I'm really attached to Crescent Rose."

"You fucking named it?" His tone was rough, but more curious than critical. He turned to the other girls. "You all named them, didn't you?"

"Myrtenaster," Weiss admitted, placing her Multi Action Dust Rapier beside her leader's weapon.

"Gambol Shroud," Blake said quietly, adding her Variant Ballistic Chain Scythe to the collection.

Yang dropped her Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets beside them. "Ember Celica."

"Fuckin' A. Alright, let's see what we got here." Gunny carefully picked up Crescent Rose. He eyed Ruby skeptically. "This really folds out into a scythe?"

"Yep!"

"Okay, then." He handed her a pair of crudely-built magazines. "I know your Dust rounds are precious, so we whipped up some substitute ammunition. It'll be dirty, and it won't have the same punch, but it should work."

Ruby took the magazines and expertly inserted one into her rifle. Chambering a round felt about the same as normal, she noticed. Taking extra care not to sweep anyone- her team didn't care, but the Gunny would probably murder her- she stepped up to the firing line.

"Okay, you have targets at one hundred, two hundred, and five hundred yards. There's one at a thousand, too, but I don't know if you'll be able to hit it."

"Probably not," Ruby admitted. She took a look at the range and noticed that in addition to a bench rest and some targets, there were also several cameras arrayed in the area.

"Right. When I tell you to go, put a few in each target, in gun mode. Then reload, switch to scythe mode, and hit them again. Got it?"

"Yeah."

The man put on a pair of ear protectors. "I don't suppose you need these. Okay, range is hot! You are cleared to fire!"

It took less than a minute for Ruby to hit all three targets, reload, transition to scythe (which almost startled the old gunner sergeant) and empty the next magazine. She tried the last round on the far target, and to her disappointment, missed.

Ruby cleared the chamber and unloaded the magazine, then inspected her rifle. "Ew, the barrel is full of black gunk."

As Ruby fussed over her scythe-rifle, the Marine trudged back to the tent, picking up and carefully examining Myrtenaster. He turned it over in his large, calloused hands, focusing on both the fine blade and complex mechanism.

"It's almost useless without Dust," Weiss mentioned, a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"Still a beautiful piece of machinery," Gunny commented, experimentally rotating the cylinder before placing it back down. He picked up Gambol Shroud and turned it around in his hand. "Now this has got to be the strangest fucking guns I've ever seen."

Blake glared at him. He quickly added, "I meant that as a compliment."

"I noticed that the gun part is similar to one we have on Earth. I made some educated guesses, and I'm hoping that with a different recoil spring, it'll run with our ammo." He handed Blake her weapon back, along with three different springs.

The cat faunus expertly disassembled her weapon. The first recoil spring was too short, and she didn't even try it. The second one was rather flimsy, but she installed it and reassembled the gun anyway.

The Marine handed her a full magazine. "Range is hot! You're clear to fire."

To Blake's surprise, the Earth ammo worked fine, cycling the action and ejecting cleanly. Or rather, it did for the first shot. The second failed to eject, stuck halfway out of the gun. She manually cleared it, and the same thing happened again.

"Nope." She dropped the magazine, checked the chamber- Terrans were very particular about that, she remembered- and popped off the slide, swapping the recoil spring for her original one.

"Well, we're close," Gunny commented, taking his spring back. "If that one almost worked, the other ones sure as hell won't. I'll try to get some more made for some more formal testing."

"Now, I've seen the scans, and I'm still not sure how your shotgun gauntlets work," Gunny told Yang after once glance at the weapons in question. "I'm guessing some kind of blow-forward action-"

"That's right!" Ruby piped up before her sister could answer.

"Okay. They should be breaking your wrists, but that's Emma's thing," He handed her a pair of rainbow coloured strips of ammunition. "These are all off the shelf. We want to know what works and what doesn't."

Yang picked up her gauntlets and clamped them back onto her wrists. A mix of emotions passed through her. She forced herself to focus, tossing the strips up in the air and reloading her weapons with a flourish.

"I'm not going to ask how the hell you just did that," the Marine muttered. "Range is hot! You're clear to fire."

It took only seconds for her to burn through all the ammunition, gauntlets firing with each punch.

"Well, that was more fun than I remembered," Yang said, grinning as she ejected the spent rounds and started to take off her gauntlets.

"Too bad we don't have time to run through the course," the Gunny groused, nevertheless impressed. "Alright, let's pack it up. Don't wanna keep the doc waiting."

* * *

"Well, I'll admit this is the part of Spectrum I find most boring," Olson said, letting the team into the medical lab. "But I'm sure Emma is really excited about it, so I'll leave it to her."

"Oh, definitely," a youngish woman with a soft face confirmed. She stripped off her gloves into a biohazard container. "I'm Doctor Emma Bowen, but Emma is fine. I've been looking at your physiology and genetics. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," Ruby answered for her team.

"So, doc, how human are we?" Yang asked immediately.

"You're more or less within human variation, with a few abnormalities." She turned to Blake. "Especially in your genome-"

"She's not actually part cat, is she?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow. Blake glared at her.

"Well, she does have what appear to be feline genes, though she's still mostly ape like the rest of us." Two pairs of eyes glared back at her.

"Wait, what?" Weiss snapped, curious, confused, and a bit offended.

Dr. Bowen chose her words carefully. She knew that there were people who objected to evolution on Earth, and these people, despite appearance, might not even know of it. "It's generally accepted among the scientific community that humans evolved from a common ancestor with modern chimpanzees."

"Well, that's... fascinating," Weiss admitted.

"What, you don't think we were just literally born from Dust," Yang half-joked.

Weiss explained to the doctor, "Our old legend is that humans were literally born from Dust. We now think we have to have come from somewhere, but I don't think there are any concrete theories."

"Hmm... it's possible that you actually are descended from humans who evolved on Earth somehow," Emma theorized. "Do you have any fossil records of less-evolved ancestors?"

"We haven't come up with much, but nobody's ever looked. Maybe there was something I never heard about, but it's certainly not common knowledge."

"Well, it's certainly an interesting thing to look into, although we may never know," Emma mused. "I suppose you want to know how you're different from us?"

"We're different from you?" Ruby asked. "Oh, you're talking about Aura and Semblances, aren't you."

"No, in fact, we still have no idea what either of those are," the doctor said, shaking her head. "We haven't had much to go on- just your initial examination, those MRIs, and a few samples- but what we did see- well, it surprised us and it didn't surprise us."

"What did you see?"

"You're stronger, faster, and tougher than would be possible for a Terran of your body type. We knew that," she told the heiress. "Some of us thought it was solely because of your Aura, some of us thought you're above baseline human- excuse me, Terran. Looks like I was right."

"You were right?"

"I, uh, figured it would be the latter. As far as we can tell, you have denser bones than us. Denser muscles, too, and probably more effective. You mentioned you need more food than us- that's because your metabolism is faster than ours, probably to power all that. Nothing is free, after all."

She paused. "I'm curious about something, though. On Remnant, are you considered especially strong?"

"Yes," Weiss replied quickly. "Not among hunters, but compared to the general population, yes."

"How high? Top one percent? Top ten percent?"

The heiress shook her head. "I don't know. Uh..."

"Nope."

"Sorry."

Yang shrugged.

"And what about variation? What does the difference between the weakest and strongest look like? Are people stronger, faster, tougher on average compared to Earth."

"I'm not one for numbers," Yang said. "But I think it's bigger than on Earth- at least, I know there's a lot of strong people that are stronger than your best. Faster, too. That Bolt guy- I've _seen_ Ruby go faster. I'd say that we're a little bit stronger in general but there are quite a bit of tough people- maybe that shifts it or whatever."

"I can't tell you anything she hasn't already," Blake added.

Emma was slightly disappointed. "Oh, well. Thank you for answering our questions, frustrating as they may have been. Do you have any of your own?"

"Do you know why we're stronger?" Yang asked. "I mean, we're mostly the same, right? We look the same."

"A small difference in genetics can make a big difference when it comes to the resulting organism," Emma explained. "As for why, I'd say evolutionary pressures. Homo remnis- uh, we're still debating on the classification- has to be tough. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

* * *

Firehawk242: Confirmed: Yang has ALWAYS shipped White Rose.

bhark3: Ah, okay. I haven't heard much about it before, but I suppose it does make sense. Is the ANZAC unit still a thing?

ODST110: I wasn't aware that Veterans' Day isn't a holiday. In Canada, Remembrance Day is- well, I don't think it's actually a statutory holiday, but school is off.

Tatopatato: From her point of view, it's a fictionalized version of real events... sort of.

GunShot2016: It's a (semi) sequel to Emergence. If you haven't read that, it won't make a lot of sense. The last five chapters of Emergence can work as a summary if you don't want to read the whole thing.


	14. Shooting for the Stars

From the last update forward, I've set a tentative release schedule. Aliens Among Us on Fridays, Those You Leave Behind on Sundays, and Fateful Flight and another upcoming project whenever they're done.

It's a Ruby-centric chapter with a space theme. Just kind of happened that way. I may have run out of ideas halfway through.

Apparently the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre is now quite run-down and outdated. Notably, they don't seem to do the live planetarium shows or simulator rides anymore, which is very disappointing because _those were going to be in this chapter_.

I also haven't seen Interstellar. Their responses are based on the plot summary and reviews.

Do you prefer the third-person perspective that's been dominant so far or the first-person perspective that was dominant in Emergence?

* * *

**14: Shooting For the Stars**

"Okay, Team RWBY-" Ruby Rose began, before zipping along the table, collecting all the plates on the table.

"I wasn't done with that," Blake groused, but nobody could hear her.

"...today we are beginning our weekly museum visit!"

"Oh, great, she's being dramatic again," Weiss moaned before she could stop herself. She realized a moment later that though it was annoying, it meant Ruby was coping.

"Weekly museum visit?" Blake asked.

"Yes! From this point forward, we shall visit one museum every week," she explained. "While we are on this planet, we shall take advantage of the opportunity and learn as much as we can! It is our duty!"

"It won't last," the heiress muttered under her breath.

"Today, the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre!" the team leader announced with a flourish. "Alsoweregointoseeinterstellartonightbecauseireallywannaseethatmovie."

"Of course you do," Weiss groused, easily understanding her partner's rapid speech. She didn't admit that she had read about the movie and was... mildly interested.

* * *

"This place looks... well, I think we're a little too old for it," Weiss commented, eyes darting between her brochure and odd, funnel-shaped building in front of them. "And it has definitely seen better days."

"But they have a real moon rock, Weiss! A real moon rock that's touchable!" Ruby told her excitedly, jumping up and down. "There are only five of those in the world!"

She grabbed her partner's hand and dragged her up the steps. "Ruby! Slow down!"

Blake looked at her own partner, who shrugged in response. "Ruby's really taken to space."

"Hmm," the cat faunus said quietly, following Yang up the steps. "I guess it's one good thing Earth has that we never did."

"Gah! What is that thing?" Weiss complained, pulling herself free of Ruby.

The crimsonette rolled her eyes. "Duh, it's a fountain."

"It's an affront to tasteful sculpture!"

"It's a crab!"

"It's horrible!"

"It's not bad," Blake interjected. "The show starts in an hour, Ruby."

Ruby's eyes lit up as she gestured wildly toward the museum. "Right! Let's get moving! We've got to beat the crowds!"

* * *

"There's no crowds," Weiss pointed out as they entered the gallery. Indeed, only a few children and parents, and a teenaged couple making out, were visible among the various exhibits. "In fact, this place looks dead."

"That just means we have it to ourselves!" Ruby countered excitedly. She pointed up at a model hanging from the ceiling. "Look! It's the International Space Station!"

"The what?" Yang asked.

"It's a habitable artificial satellite used for research purposes," Weiss explained, then simplified, "It flies around in orbit and it has people on it."

Their leader zipped around excitedly, calling, "Ooh, look at the spacesuit! Ooh, look at the engine! Weiss, I want a picture!"

"Ruby, slow down!" Weiss called back, going after her. She found her standing beside a large bell-shaped piece of machinery and stopped beside her.

"It's a rocket engine," Ruby explained in awe.

"Eh..." Weiss had seen plenty of large machinery up close, and didn't really see anything special about this one. In fact, it looked kind of like an old piece of junk.

"It's been to space!"

"Okay, fine."

"You're not _excited_, Weiss." Ruby pouted. "You need to be _excited_."

Yang and her partner had given up trying to follow the duo. The blonde motioned toward a computerized kiosk. "Hey Blake, ever wonder what you'd look like as an alien?"

"Apparently, almost exactly like the locals," she deadpanned.

"Plan a Mars mission?"

She took one look at it. "I've been on this planet for two months and I can tell that was made about twenty years ago."

"Wanna try docking the Space Shuttle?"

"Not particularly."

Yang smirked mischievously and motioned toward the teenagers. "What about dropping in on that couple?"

"Yang!"

"Fine. Well, you can watch me try to dock the Space Shuttle. It's just like docking an airship, right? How hard can it be?"

Ruby, meanwhile, was searching for the moon rock, dragging her partner with her. She stopped suddenly and Weiss almost barrelled into her. "Found it!"

She read off the card, "This Apollo 17 lunar sample is one of only five touchable moon rocks in the world. This sample was collected by astronaut Jack Schmidt from the Taurus Litrow highlands and has been dated at 3.75 billion years old."

"It looks like any other rock," Weiss pointed out.

"Fine. Be a spoilsport. I'm going to enjoy this moment." Ruby reached under the protective glass and gently put one finger on the dark-coloured shard. She closed her eyes and smiled, imagining what Earth's non-shattered moon was like.

She blushed as another hand gently pushed hers out of the way, joining it under the glass. "Weiss?"

The white-haired girl glared back at her. "What? You wanted me to touch the rock, so I did."

"Way to ruin the moment, Weiss," Ruby said, pulling her hand back. "Come on, I saw a thing where you can get your picture in an astronaut suit on our way in."

"You are so immature," the heiress muttered, following her leader back toward the front of the gallery.

By the time she arrived, Ruby was already inside the plastic shell. She smiled and said, "Take a picture, Weiss."

"Fine. Ugh..." Despite her cold attitude, in some ways Weiss wished she could share the crimsonette's enthusiasm. This space stuff was pretty exciting, but years of pragmatic cynicism had torn away her ability to feel wonder as her younger teammate could. So she mechanically took a picture with her Earth-built phone and reminded her leader that the planetarium show was starting in twenty minutes.

"Someday..." Ruby whispered quietly as they headed out toward the planetarium.

* * *

"The stars are different," Ruby whispered to her partner as the presenter started to explain the constellations visible from the Earth's surface.

"You dolt." Weiss sighed. "It's a different planet. Of course the stars are different. That's what this show is about."

Ruby sank into her seat, embarrassed. "Oh, yeah. I knew that."

The presenter continued to explain the constellations. Ruby was enthralled. Weiss continued her veil of disinterest.

"You're enjoying it," Ruby whispered, leaning uncomfortably close. She did not reply.

"You know, I never really looked at the stars as a child," Blake whispered to her partner. "But now I'm wondering what's up there."

"Home," Yang replied quickly and quietly.

The cat faunus raised an eyebrow. "Home?"

"It's out there somewhere, Blake," she replied. "Will we be able to make it back? Who knows. But it's out there somewhere."

* * *

"That was amazing!" Ruby practically shouted as they left the museum.

"It was mediocre at best," Weiss groused.

"Weiss!"

"Mediocre. At. Best."

Ruby looked hopefully at her sister. "Yang?"

"It was fun," she replied with a shrug. "Could use a splash of paint and some new exhibits, though."

"Blake?"

"It was interesting."

"To the cinema!" Ruby proclaimed dramatically. "We'll be just in time for early showing, come on!"

* * *

"Ruby, you can't possibly eat all that," Weiss said, trying to pull the massive bag of popcorn from her team leader's hands. The crimsonette pulled away, clutching her popcorn protectively.

Yang shook her head, "Oh yes she can."

"Itf Earf pofcorn," she replied through a mouthful of the stuff. "It's not like it'll make me fat or anything."

"I still think this is a waste of time," the white-haired girl insisted. She refused to buy popcorn, deriding it as a food for peasants. Instead, she had a bag of sugared peaches and a medium-sized Pepsi.

"Come on, Weiss, it's fun, and we can learn stuff, and they don't have many movies like this at home," the team leader rattled off. She complained, "I just wish there weren't so many ads."

Blake peered over her book, this one a novel that seemed to be popular. "Hmm?"

"Blake, why are you reading?" Ruby whined.

"Because of the ads," she replied. "I'll put it away before the movie starts."

"Fine," Ruby replied, rolling her eyes and stuffing another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

* * *

"Well... what did you think?" Ruby asked, tossing her empty popcorn and cup into the trash as she skipped out of the theater.

"My brain hurts from the science," her sister commented with a shrug. "It was pretty cool, though. Mostly. Okay, yeah, I wasn't really paying much attention to the plot."

"It was pretentious," Blake opined. "Under all its glamour and posturing, it was just another save the world movie."

"Aww," Ruby sounded disappointed. "Weiss?"

"It was... interesting. Honestly, though, I was more intrigued by the background than the events of the movie itself."

"Well, I liked it," Ruby said cheerfully. "I call today a success. Onward!"

Weiss simply rolled her eyes and followed her toward the transit station.

* * *

Firehawk242: I know, but I really wanted to make the joke.

Guest: It's not that I wanted to; I just didn't have the time, motivation, or muse to fit everything in. Some of the questions will be answered later, however.

Fourze: It's deliberately left ambiguous for now.

Tatopatato: Technically, they'd be half-Remnan. I have decided on what half-Remnans would be like already- it's not exactly the same.

GreatWyrmGold: Aaron hasn't given up completely, but he's put it aside for the time being. Myself and several others felt that plot arc was getting tiring, but it's by no means dead. Yang doesn't ship White Rose herself, but she's read some fics that do.


	15. From The Other Side

Delayed by a day because I was travelling and wanted to sleep. Those You Leave Behind may also be delayed or even skip a week, we'll see.

A first-person perspective chapter. May be short and not too good because I didn't really have a lot of time to write this week.

There's another set of notes at the bottom of the chapter. I think I started it last chapter, but this is going to be a regular thing from now on.

* * *

**15: From The Other Side**

_**Aaron Wong**_

It was hard to treat Blake as, well, a human, instead of Blake. I thought I'd banished the thought from my head, but it occasionally went to the front of my mind and I'd do something stupid. Like make dumb cat jokes that made no sense out of context and only Yang would laugh at. Actually, she did laugh at most of them. Maybe I should ship Bumblebee- damn it! See what I mean?

I will say that her friends Ruby, Weiss, and Yang didn't make it a lot easier. Okay, you have to fudge which names you use to get it to line up that nicely, but still... RWBY. Although if you really look, you can tell that it can't be them. The hair's wrong, the facial structure is wrong, they sometimes wear the wrong outfits.

I'm not too good with people, I'll admit it, but even I can tell that their personality is off. Ruby isn't quite as cheerful, and I think she's actually more mature than the Ruby in RWBY. Anna is a little bit warmer than Weiss, though she's still kind of a bitch sometimes. And Linda isn't as flirty or outgoing as Yang- in fact sometimes she gets really quiet and has this thousand-yard stare.

Of course, there's no doubt I'm hugely overthinking the whole thing, which is what Gavin seems to think.

"Dude, you're thinking too hard," Gavin would tell me.

"Yeah, I know," I'd tell him back.

I did try to talk to Blake, though. She didn't talk much, so usually it was me spouting about sports or the news or occasionally anime. Okay, it was more talking at me. I guess she still didn't like me, even though it was almost a month since the stupid party. Then again, if someone said I was a fictional character who somehow popped into the real world I'd probably think they were crazy or an asshole or both. But she was being a little more opening, giving me monosyllable answers.

So mostly I just watched her, which was maybe creepy but I actually don't know the first thing about how relationships are supposed to work. I mean, Gavin always had a girl on his arm until recently, but I never had any idea how he did it. Which is another weird thing- he didn't for the past month or so, I guess maybe he was over that kind of relationship or something. I thought he had his eye on Yang, and I mean I couldn't blame him, even if she wasn't really Yang Xiao Long she's still really hot.

I noticed a few things about Bella Blake and actually some of them didn't mesh with Blake Belladonna. She liked mostly non-fiction books, not smut novels. On the other hand, the ones I saw were on Martin Luther King, that African guy who looks like Morgan Freeman, and the Holocaust. She always wore a hat, but sometimes it would be a different hat, and sometimes she's have two for some reason. She seemed to prefer pizza and burgers to sandwiches, but then again so do I. And sometimes I thought she was watching me but that's just me being paranoid- I'm the creeper here maybe.

And of course Anna still didn't talk to me much. She was kind of weird, too, but then again, who isn't? I mean, I'm the big tough football player, but I'm into anime, even though I don't really make a point of it. That's Gavin, who makes a point of my weeaboo every time he can. He may be an asshole, but he's actually a hell of a lot smarter than he looks. I mean, most of us have no idea what we're gonna do after we cross that stage, but he's already got his plans made.

Fuck, I don't even know.

* * *

_**Connor Lloyd**_

I don't know what Ruby and me were.

Were we just class partners? We were working together in Science and she wasn't very good at it really but she tried a lot harder than other people so it's okay. She actually wanted to learn stuff which was kind of rare sadly. We worked together well even if we were super awkward at first.

Were we friends? I didn't really have many friends, and I don't know if it's really something that can be defined. She stuck with me in PE and stood up for me and I guess that's what friends do. We started hanging out together a little during lunch sometimes, but that was mostly when we had to work. I wanted to ask her to hang out more but I was worried that it would be going too far or something.

Were we actually together? I mean were were spending quite a bit of time together. And she did like hugging a lot. I think it's not weird to have friends that are girls but maybe this is more than that? It's not like I know what love is or how dating works or that. And I don't know but maybe Ruby doesn't either.

And she still looked kind of weirdly familiar or something. One day I asked her about this. But I didn't know how to do it so it came out really awkward.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" Her hands flew up to her hair. "Oh, no, did I forget to comb my hair again?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that!" I said back.

She stopped messing with her hair and asked, "Huh?"

"It's just that you kind of look familiar," I told her. "Not like I knew you before or anything like that, but maybe you look like an actress or something."

"Psssh..." She did a little dismissive wave thingy with her hand. "Well, okay, maybe, yeah, that's probably it. I don't know who, though."

"Yeah, I dunno."

* * *

_**Vicki Lee**_

I still wasn't sure what to think of Anna.

For example, she can be a stone-cold bitch.

"Is this an effective way to do business?" Ms. Patil asked in class, referring to some article we had to read about a company tearing down the rainforest and running factories with workers that couldn't afford to live. "Anna?"

Her answer was quick and decisive."Absolutely."

Ms. Patil blanched- if you can call that blanching. "We discussed this an example of unethical business practices. Why do you say that, then?"

"The goal of business is to make money, is it not?" she said smarmily.

"Yes, but-"

"Then if exploitation is more profitable, a business should exploit." She sounded almost bored. "Is it ethical? Of course it's not. Is it right? Of course not. But as you've said, business is business."

"Okay, if we are to look at it from a purely pragmatic perspective, what of the potential negative consequences to your business. Problems that could affect profit, if that is your sole goal."

"You deal with them in other ways," Anna replied. "If you need to improve public perception, that's what public relations campaigns are for. If you need to deal with unruly workers, well, I don't suppose I need to explain that?"

"Please do." I could tell Ms. Patil was curious but afraid of what her answer would be.

"I believe you call them _private military contractors_."

The room went silent at that. One of the stupid boys muttered, "Is she serious?"

"And you truly believe this is how we should do business?" Ms. Patil was unusually quiet.

"No," the white-haired girl replied honestly. "But that wasn't the question you asked. You asked if it was an effective way to do business. There is plenty of evidence that it is. You never asked to bring morality into the equation."

On the other hand, she puts up with this really weird girl.

"Weiss!" a high-pitched voice shouted as we headed out of class. A girl in red zipped by and slammed into Anna, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Ruby!" Anna shouted semi-angrily, prying the other girl off. "Why are you hugging me right after class?"

"You looked like you needed a hug," The girl replied, rolling her eyes. I got my first good look at her. She was younger, for sure, maybe grade nine or ten. Then again, maybe she just looked young. Her hair was black, but she'd put red streaks in it. She wore a rust-coloured hoodie that was at least clean, along with a weird skirt and some kind of knockoff Converse. She was also a bit taller than Anna, even with her heels. "I'm gonna run to the caf for lunch today. Want anything?"

"Same as usual." So they ate lunch together. Weird.

She looked at me. "Who's this?"

"That would be Vicki," Anna introduced. "She's in my business class."

"Hi," I said hesitantly. The redhead would be kind of adorable as a little sister or something, but I did not want to associate with her.

"Hi, I'm Ruby. Nice to meet you!" She grabbed my hand and nearly pulled it off, without asking or anything. Her palms were sweaty and kind of gross.

"Ruby, don't you have engineering?" Anna reminded the girl.

"Oh, crap! Gottarunbye!" Ruby said, panicking. She dashed away, knocking over some dumb jock boy as she ran past.

"Bye, Ruby," Anna called. For a brief moment, I saw a smile flash across the ice queen's face.

"Who was that?" I asked her, derision in my voice. I'm not sure if I meant that or not.

"That would be my _best friend_." She turned on her heel and strutted away.

Like I said, Anna was weird. I'm still not sure if she's rebellious old money, poor but pretentious, some kind of weird foreign person, or just a bitch.

* * *

_**Gavin Lloyd**_

How can you tell between a stupid crush and actual love?

I'm a big dude, good looking, charming, well-known, just generally one of those popular guys that actually exist. Usually that gets girls latched onto me right away. Yang, though... well, she doesn't seem to find me any more charming than the average guy. At first I thought it was just because she didn't know me, but she doesn't seem to like me.

Yes, I've considered the possibility that she prefers girls, and no, I haven't asked. Besides, she's nowhere near butch enough to be a lesbian.

Maybe I'm the one who needs to try harder. I usually just took what I could get and usually that's pretty good. She's really hot, but so are a lot of other girls. There's just something a little different about her, and maybe I want her and maybe I just want to know more about her.

Aaron, meanwhile, is constantly trying to tell me that she's some kind of Anime character, although I think he finally got the message that I'm calling bullshit for reasons that should be really, really, really obvious because he hasn't been as insane about the whole thing lately. In fact, he's even started to talk to her like a human.

I really shouldn't be so hard on the guy. Being a football star doesn't make you automatically a socially awesome centre of attention, especially on this side of the border. Eh, maybe it doesn't in America in 2015 either.

I know I was spending way too much time thinking about it. I had to keep my marks up, which wasn't easy. Physics 11 wasn't too bad, but I had to really learn it because I had Physics 12 next semester and that was apparently a total bitch. Pre-Calculus 12, on the other hand, is pure pain. I totally understand why most people just do Grade 11 math and stop there. But I promised myself I'd be in the best possible position getting out of high school, so here I am.

We all have our dreams. Trying to pursue them against hopeless odds or just settling for something good enough... that's the question. And that's both stupidly melodramatic and totally stolen out of a movie.

It wasn't really the end of the semester coming, but it felt like it. There's work to do.

* * *

BbK2442: I figured Ruby would latch on to space almost immediately. Blake's statement of space exploration as the only good thing about Earth is rather cynical, but it's not unreasonable to say that it's the only fantastic thing about Earth. Most of our world if fairly mundane and boring compared to Remnant.

TheMAO17: True. I'm still not sure how much I want Weiss to loosen up and how quickly. The way she acts- bitchy, superior, and hiding her feelings- is very ingrained into her. On the other hand, she's been with RWBY for a term and has loosened up a bit, and now the whole heiress thing is basically a moot point.

Firehawk242: It wasn't originally written that way, but I did realize it before I posted and decided to leave it that way.

Tatopatato: I'm going to be very frustrating and say that you're not wrong, but you're not right either.

ocomfv: The moon rock? It's not that kind of story... or is it? Yang has read fanfics, Ruby hasn't read as many and certainly not the adult ones. They don't want to try randomly using Aura on things until they know more about what it is.

linkthetoaoftime: It certainly makes the experience more personal, but it provides less context and sense of scale. I almost feel as if third-person would have been better for Emergence and first-person for this.

HiroNinja: True; most of my references are based on much lower-ranked Marines in a far different setting.

I feel there isn't enough differentiation between characters, especially Aaron and Gavin. I'm also worried about devoting an entire chapter to OCs. What do you think?


	16. Break Time

This is set on the last day before Christmas break. It will be followed by a revised version of A Christmas Emerging, then new episodes.

First person perspective like the last chapter, but from RWBY's point of view this time.

Not much to say about it; it pretty much explains itself. I had better ideas for some of the characters than the others.

**16: Break Time**

_**Ruby Rose**_

"You built a robot," the teacher said flatly, examining my creation.

I nodded eagerly. "Yeah."

"Right... uh, you built a killer robot."

"Yes. It was in the proposal!" I reminded him. Maybe he was like Professor Port and didn't actually look at any of the assignments? "You did read the proposal, didn't you?"

"Well, I suppose I did approve it." I guess that means he did read it after all. "Might as well try it then, Ruby."

Crescent Whirl is my battle robot. Well, right now she was just an aluminum frame with some batteries and electronics taped on, but it should be able to drive around and the spinning blades was finished. The blades were curved- actually, the profile was one I'd thought about using for Crescent Rose years ago but I didn't like it. I'd wanted to build one after seeing a video on the first day of class. I still wasn't sure what I was going to do with her but I'm sure I'd find something.

Mr. Wu was pretty cool, and basically let us build what we want, but I don't know if he really knew much about engineering. Or maybe it just didn't make sense to me because I didn't know what he was talking about because I'm not from Earth.

Making all the metal parts wasn't too different from making parts for weapons, except I had to do a lot more by hand. The teacher said that CNC machining, which was basically the same as what we had, was common in the real world but too expensive for the school. We only had a manual mill and a waterjet cutter, which is like a big table that cuts out metal with water. It seemed like a weird way to do it but apparently it worked as long as the machine wasn't broken down which happened quite a bit.

Mechanical stuff worked the same but the materials were different but it didn't really matter since I ended up just buying gearboxes and stuff over the internet. It was nice that a lot of stuff was prebuilt so a lot stuff I didn't have to build. So I built the frame but that was pretty easy and the spinning blades were the hard part. And the electronics were weird and used words I didn't know but some of the other guys helped with it and it turns out most of it just plugs together anyway.

Also, the batteries I used explode when you treat them bad, which was a shock the first time, awesome the second time, and expensive the third time.

It wasn't cheap to build. It was actually kind of awkward to ask for money to build it, but then they handed it over and told me they were just happy I wasn't trying to build guns in class.

But I finally had the robot running. I reached in and turned the power switch. Whirl twitched a bit, then stopped twitching. I stepped back, picked up the radio controller, and pushed the stick forward. Whirl responded, and I drove her around a bit before spinning up the weapon. I'd already put out a few blocks of wood with Grimm faces on them. The first hit exploded the block of wood. The next block of wood went flying and hit the lathe on the other side of the room. Then Whirl started vibrating badly so I stopped and turned it off.

Well, it almost worked.

"So that's what you've been building," a familiar voice called.

"Oh, hey, Connor," I replied. Wait... "Don't you have programming right now?"

"No, it's been lunch time for a couple minutes, and we got let out early anyway."

Lunch time already? I hurriedly unplugged Whirl and shoved her into a large bag along with the radio. "Sorry Connor, I have to go, Weiss is going to kill me!"

I dashed out of the room. I was supposed to be buying today, too.

_**Weiss Schnee**_

Lunch was late. Business class had finished early, but Ruby didn't arrive with food until almost fifteen minutes later. Blake and Yang were late, too, because Blake wanted to finish an assignment and Yang had to finish cleaning up in Auto.

I ate my tasty but distasteful chicken strips, glaring at Ruby as she offered a long-winded explanation. "...got Crescent Whirl up and running, and then Connor showed up and said that it was lunch time, and I felt bad about leaving, but then I realized I was supposed to be buying today."

"You were late," I told her.

"Sorry!" she apologized. It was really, really hard to stay angry at her with that look on her face.

I sighed. "It's fine."

"Hey, you really did build that robot," her sister mentioned. She motioned to what could be charitably described as a robot. It was more like a pile of scrap metal with some wheels and electronics on it.

"Yup! I had to make something, but they wouldn't let me make a weapon, so I made this," she explained. "I call her Crescent Whirl, but I'm not really sure about the name."

"It looks dangerous," I commented. The thing had a pair of nasty-looking scythe blades on the front, and I assumed that they were meant to spin.

"Well, it's technically not a weapon," Ruby replied. "It's only meant to break other robots."

"How was Auto?" Blake asked her partner.

"Well, we finally got to look at engines this week," Yang said enthusiastically. I tuned her out- though I did know some things about machines, it wasn't really a topic I was interested in. She said something about valves and turbochargers and other automotive terms. Something about compression ratios and radial engines.

"Weiss!" Ruby snapped her fingers in front of me. "You're not listening..."

"I was listening!" I lied.

"No, you weren't." Yang shook her head. "I thought you found the technology stuff interesting."

"Technology, yes. Cars, no."

"As I was saying, the engines are mostly the same, except they run on refined fuel oil instead of Dust. It's actually pretty nasty and makes a big mess, but I don't think you care about that. But... oil companies are basically the Dust companies here."

I tried to be nice when I said, "I learned that in business already."

Yang shrugged, realizing that I didn't care about her adventures in automotive class. "Well, who's excited for Christmas?"

"Me!" Ruby shouted. She added quietly, "Even though I'm not sure what it is."

I had some time to read up on the local custom, and the history of it was interesting, if convoluted. "Christmas is named for a religious event, and many celebrate the religious aspect of the holiday. However, there are several related events that are either non-religious or belong to other religions that have become part of the Christmas tradition, some of which are celebrated as well. It's existed in one form or another for thousands of years, though it's celebrated much differently today-"

"What?" Of course Ruby hadn't understood a word I'd said- or at least pretended to. It was hard to tell with her. At first, I simply assumed she was a simpleton, but it turned out she was a lot more perceptive than I had given her credit for.

I simplified, "It's different for everyone, but there's certain things most people do."

She rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you just say that?"

"Well, I'm just glad to have a few weeks off," Yang admitted. "Kick back, relax, not do any of this school."

"We don't even do anything intensive here," I reminded her.

She turned serious. "Weiss, we lie about who we are and where we come from every day. Most of our lives are fabricated. That's pretty intensive."

_**Blake Belladonna**_

Most people didn't really take their studies seriously in math class. For that matter, most of them didn't seem to take any class seriously. I wondered if it was just this school or if everywhere was like that. I wondered if I was just a hardworking cynic.

I had finished the last bit of the assignment the day before. It was quadratic functions, which weren't too complex, but I had still asked Weiss for help on it. Yang, of course, didn't, and was finishing up the day it was due. Today, I had a essentially free class, and I spent most of it reading my book and discreetly observing everyone around me.

We tried to blend in, and nobody really noticed we were different. Falling into a routine, falling into habits was easy. Our lives may be complicated, but they're easy. Get up, go to school, study, go home, waste time, repeat. Occasionally indulge one of Ruby's adventures or ponder our circumstances. I'd never imagined myself being here, but it didn't take long to get use to it.

Then again, it never did. Not the Fang, not after the Fang, not at Beacon.

But we aren't the same. I had cat ears, but even if I wasn't a Faunus, I'd still have an Aura and a Semblance and a stronger body than them. I'd lived in a world constantly under threat from soulless monsters. I'd fought those monsters. I'd fought for a race that didn't exist here, killed for terrorists that would be completely foreign to them. Despite initial appearances, Remnant was a completely alien world compared to Earth when it came to society and culture.

It was a funny thing. Back on Remnant, I'd always thought of _us_ and _them_ as _Faunus_ and _Human_. But now, most of the time _us_ and _them_ meant _Remnan_ and _Terran_.

It did put things into perspective. I had more in common with the human sitting beside me than either of us had with anyone else in the room. I just wish the rest of the Faunus could see it.

The cynic in me immediately pointed out that we'd only find another group to hate. I didn't feel superior, but I knew that a lot of people would, and it would be their downfall, because Terrans are-

"Hey, Blake." A hand waved in front of my face. "Blaaaaaake!"

I turned around to see Yang's smirking face. She was standing in front of my desk- I guess she'd already handed in her assignment. I put my book down and narrowed my eyes. "What?"

"Time to go. Class is over," she told me. "We're on holiday now!"

I smiled a little, wondering how forced her cheer was. "Okay. I want to return my books first. Meet you out front."

"See you later, Blakey!"

_**Yang Xiao Long**_

I had some pretty mixed feelings as I headed toward the front of the school. Maybe I was the only one on my team who thought it, but I thought life here was a lot more complicated.

Back on Remnant, I'd just kind of gone along for the ride. I wasn't going to lie- I was searching for thrills. I wanted a life where I didn't know what tomorrow would bring.

I'd never thought it would lead me here.

I mean, when you actually stopped to think about it, it was _crazy_. We were living double lives, on another planet, with no idea how we got here. It didn't look too different but when you looked, everything was different on this world. Airships take off from runways. People die when you shoot them. Girls don't ask guys out.

We were going with the flow, just like I'd always wanted. We had no idea where we were going. Okay, yeah, the government's set us up and we're going to high school. Where do we go after that? Were we going to just be slaves to the government, or would we just disappear into society? Would we eventually be found out? Would we be hated or would we be famous?

Honestly, I didn't really care where I was going to go. I had plenty of ideas, most of them not so great. But what about everyone else? Weiss had her future laid out for her, and now was just another peasant in an uncertain world. Blake? Literally the last of her kind, wanting to atone in a world where it's really hard to make a difference. And Ruby? Well, if life wasn't a fairytale on Remnant, it sure as hell wasn't on Earth-

"Hey," a familiar voice called. Great, Gavin. I still wasn't sure what to think about him.

I learned some words for the kind of girl I was, and a lot of them aren't considered very nice. I just kind of went along with things, did a lot of stuff for the thrill, and relationships were no different. He wasn't a bad guy, and I knew he liked me. I should at least get to know him.

But could I really do that? This is another planet, and I'm barely human by these people's standards. I can't even show my real eye color here, let alone my awesome superhero powers. And what if we did find a way back? If we got too close, we'd be torn between two worlds.

And now I was the one thinking things through before doing anything. That was odd.

I smiled at him. "Hey."

"Whatcha doing for the break?" he asked, following beside me.

I shrugged and joked, "Sleeping, playing video games, watching movies. Relaxing."

He laughed. "Same here. I think I'll start my application to BCIT, but other than that? Yeah, I'm done for 2014."

"Yeah, it's going to be a new year when we get back, isn't it?" I was used to the Earth calendar, but sometimes I still lapsed into Vale time. We wouldn't be having a new year for another few months- if time even worked that way.

"Heh, yeah." He motioned to the other side of the parking lot. "I gotta catch a bus. See you next year, Yang,"

"Have a good break," I said with a wave. I'd actually been going the wrong way, just kind of going with the flow again. I'd have to go back to the other side of the school to find Ruby.

I hope she'd thought things through better, for her own sake.

AnonymousReading: Eventually. We'll see what happens then.

ODST110: It's probably either the lack of tension or the lack of adventure. Compared to Emergence, this is like a long breather episode. It's all about mundane, everyday life, with most conflict coming from the fairly normal situation of them being new to the school or the fairly abnormal situation of them being new to the planet. There's no grand plot or big spectacle. At least, that's what I feel.

jakillking999: It started that way, but I figured they hadn't had a lot of screen time lately, and it just kind of flowed naturally once I figured out what I wanted each of them to be doing.

Tatopatato: Not going to reveal anything yet. There are clues spread around, and there will be more as we get closer to Emergence Part 2 (tentatively titled Convergence), but... well, it's going to be big. Of course, they said that about District 9 and Elysium, too, and look how that turned out. As for Vicki, well, there's a lot more to her than meets the eye, but she's really difficult to write, so a lot of it doesn't get across.

GreatWyrmGold (chapter 14): Practically speaking, there isn't much difference, but some have mild or strong preference for one of another. I think there was one person who outright refused to read anything in first person- their loss, in my opinion. I just want to get a feel for what people like.

GreatWyrmGold (chapter 15): Connor and Ruby have a lot in common. I will admit that I'm using more or less the same style of writing for both, though. I do want to spend more time with the OCs. On the other hand, I'm worried about taking the focus away from RWBY to the extent that it's barely a RWBY fic anymore. I see Ruby as more likely to be an astronaut- maybe even the first Remnan in space- than running a space program. Sexuality is different for Remnans in my headcanon, but I haven't had a good opportunity to explore that yet.

Hubakon: Yes. People do this kind of stuff all the time. If you're offended, well, that's the way it is. It does offend some people- as someone like him would in real life. He's not really hateful, though, he just jumps to conclusions.

Guest: Don't worry, it's not coming up for a while yet.

If Emergence was the well-made if unambitious sleeper hit, then this is the somewhat-connected spinoff and Convergence is the summer blockbuster.


	17. Christmas Break, Part One

I'm going to be honest- if you've read A Christmas Emerging, you've pretty much already read this. I've rearranged things slightly and cleaned them up a bit, but it's mostly the same. There will be two more parts of this, then your regularly scheduled programming will resume. I expect to get all three parts of this out in the next week.

Because of how rapidly these are being released, I'm going to delay review replies until Part 3 is out.

**17: Christmas Break, Part One**

"It's so busy..." Ruby remarked.

The four of them paused as they stepped out of the SkyTrain station. The crowd moved around them, streaming into the mall entrance. Even if it wasn't the middle of December, the place would still be busy. The Christmas shopping season only made it worse- much, much worse.

"Yeah, it's definitely a lot busier today than it was in November," her sister added.

Blake took a step back. "I don't know, maybe we should go somewhere else."

"We can do this!" Ruby said resolutely. "I'll go with Weiss and Yang can go with Blake."

"I still don't understand why we're doing this," Weiss groused.

"Because that's what people do here!" she replied. "Besides, it sounds fun!"

Before anyone could object, she grabbed Weiss by the hand and started half-dragging her toward the mall entrance. About halfway, the heiress gave up and matched Ruby's pace, resigning herself to the crimsonette's antics.

* * *

"Look mommy, it's Elsa!" a young girl with pigtails shouted, pointing with one hand and tugging on her mother's sleeve with the other. Before anyone could do anything, she bolted off toward the Snow Queen.

"I am not- get off me!" Weiss screeched as the child latched onto her.

"Weiss, be careful!" Ruby shouted at Weiss, who started shaking her leg.

"Get it off! Get it off!" From the tone of her voice, you would have think some kind of alien creature, not a human child, had latched onto the heiress.

"Sally!" her harried mother shouted, trotting toward them. "Sally, let that poor girl go."

"But it's Elsa!" the child whined, still attached to the pouting Schnee.

"I am not Elsa!" Weiss shrieked. "Do I look like Elsa?"

"Well, kind of," Ruby told her quietly. "And you can turn stuff to ice."

"I am so sorry," the woman apologized, pulling her child off of Weiss and admonishing her. "Sally! What did I tell you about strangers?"

"But it's Elsa!" the girl repeated.

"My name is Anna Weiss," she introduced, regaining her composure. "I've, uh, I've never even seen the movie."

"See? It's not the princess," the mother explained to her child. "Frozen isn't real, baby. It's just a story. And stories don't show up in real life."

Weiss carefully kept her face impassive. Ruby coughed to cover up a giggle.

"I'm sorry about this," the mother apologized again to the angry heiress. "Come on, Sally, we have to get stocking stuffers for daddy."

"Well, that was weird," Ruby remarked before bursting out laughing. "Kind of funny though."

Weiss glared at her. "For you, perhaps. It was humiliating and awkward for me."

"Come on, Weiss, it was cute," the crimsonette whined.

"No. Just no," the heiress snapped. Seeing a pleading look in Ruby's eyes, she admitted, "Okay, maybe a little."

* * *

"You know, if it weren't for all the different names, you'd swear this was just another shopping mall in Vale," Yang commented as they walked through the Grand Court. She pointed at one of them. "Heh. Target. What a terrible name for a store. I wonder how long they'll be around."

Blake shook her head. "It's just a name. This is a peaceful place- it doesn't have the same connotations."

"I guess." Yang asked cheerfully, "So, where should we go first?"

"I want to buy some books," Blake replied after a moment. "But I think we walked past the bookstore on our way in, so maybe we can do that later."

"How about we try that store?" Yang suggested, pointing at Sears. "I think they have a bit of everything."

"Why are you so cheerful today?" Blake asked as they headed toward the store.

She replied offhand. "Christmas comes but once a year!"

Why did that sound so familiar- wait... "Isn't that from a song?"

Yang sighed as she slowed down. "Look, Blake, this time of year- Yuletide, technically, but it's eerily similar- was pretty special to us back on Remnant. I know that Dad and Uncle Qrow and the rest of the family are a world away, but they'd want us to celebrate and enjoy it anyway, so that's what I'm trying to do."

"You know, Yang, you can be quite poignant when you're not trying," Blake told her, following her toward the imposing Sears.

The blonde had surprisingly sharp hearing. "Who says I wasn't trying?"

* * *

"I want to get a picture with Santa!"

Weiss cringed when she heard those words. She knew her partner was immature, but she didn't think she was _that_ childish.

"But I've never done it when I was little," Ruby replied sadly.

"Maybe that has something to do with living on another planet!" Weiss snapped, probably a bit too loud. A few people turned before quickly looking away.

Ruby pouted, and it only took a few seconds for her pleading eyes to wear down the heiress' resolve. She grabbed Ruby by the arm and pulled her toward the line. "Ugh, fine."

"Yay!" Ruby cheered. "Best partner ever!"

Several others gave them weird looks. Weiss glared at them, and most of them quickly looked away. Looking scary wasn't just something she did. It was something she practiced.

* * *

"Some of this stuff looks familiar," Yang commented, surveying the food court. "And some of it, not so much."

Most of it, in fact, looked familiar to Blake, although a lot of it they hadn't eaten before. She knew her partner ate an even narrower variety of food. "There is certainly a lot of variety."

"Geez, this whole place is really busy," the blonde commented. "So, what do you want? Tuna?"

Blake glared at her. "That's not funny."

Yang pushed, "But you _do_ like it."

"That has nothing to do with being a cat faunus," Blake snapped.

Yang couldn't tell if she was serious or not, so she backed off. "Okay, but seriously, I'm hungry, so I'm just going to get something."

"KFC," the raven-haired cat faunus replied after a moment of thought. "I want chicken today."

"Salty, fatty, greasy, and tasty," her partner commented. "I can go for that."

Blake was less enthusiastic. "I'd prefer a salad, but I know if I do that-"

"You're gonna have the munchies later." Yang laughed. "Look at it this way. You can eat whatever you want, as much as you want, and keep your trim figure."

* * *

Several hours after they'd entered the densely populated labyrinth, four tired teens emerged from it once again. They walked in empty handed, with fat wallets, and walked out burdened with bags and a lot less cash.

"I got a picture with Santa!" Ruby blurted out immediately. Then her shoulders slumped a little. "He thought I was weird."

Blake raised an eyebrow.

Yang laughed. "Aww, that's cute."

Weiss glared at both of them. "It was humiliating."

"Everything's humiliating for you, Weiss," Ruby said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "Why don't you want to have any fun?"

"I was attacked by a small girl who confused me for a fictional character- a different fictional character- dragged to the worst stores in the mall, and then forced to stand by as my partner does something she's ten years too old for

"See what I mean?" Ruby whined.

Weiss's shoulders slumped. "I see what you mean."

"Just try to be more enthusiastic, please?" Ruby begged. She turned to her other teammates. "So, did everyone get what they were looking for?"

"For the last time, yes," Weiss hissed.

"Yep!" Yang replied loudly.

Blake just nodded.

"Hey, we didn't see you in the food court," Yang mentioned. "Did you have lunch?"

"Three poutines each," Weiss said with disapproval. "It was disgusting."

Ruby disagreed. "I liked it. And you enjoyed it."

"It's peasant food."

"Someone's got guilty pleasures," Yang half-joked. The ice queen simply glared back.

"So... we're done?" Blake asked in an effort to break the tension.

"For this year, at least," Ruby replied. "Just as hectic as, well, you know-"

"Shouldn't we be catching a train?" Weiss asked, interrupting the thought.

"Yeah, let's go," their leader agreed. "We've got to get back to start wrapping, and tonight we're going to get a tree!"

* * *

Four figures trudged through the muddy trails of the forest, in search of their prize. It was dark and cold and frost was starting to form. They had ventured out toward the forest an hour ago, but just started to reach trees that looked remotely suitable. The shortest of them, a crimsonette in a matching jacket, idly swung around a small scythe.

"Why are we doing this?" the white-haired girl beside her asked. "We could have bought a ready-to-use artificial tree, with the lights and everything, and we wouldn't be-"

"But I don't want a fake tree!" Ruby whined.

"Is this even legal?" Weiss pressed.

"Probably not," Blake admitted.

Ruby dismissed it with a wave of her scythe. "I'm sure it's fine."

"Why did you bring a scythe, anyway?" Weiss said, pointing to the implement. "It's not exactly meant for cutting trees."

Yang shrugged. "Eh, she cuts down trees with Crescent Rose all the time. Sometimes it's even on purpose."

"Yes, but that's not Crescent Rose. That's just a cheap scythe from Home Depot. I seriously doubt it will be able to-"

"Hey!" Ruby called, several paces ahead.

Weiss shook her head, holding her temple with one gloved hand. "Fine, let's just grab a tree and get out of here."

Ruby zipped over to a tree that she thought looked good. "How about this one?"

The ice heiress shook her head. "No. That one's asymmetrical."

She zipped over to another one and shook it, showering herself in needles. "Okay, not this one."

"How about that one?" Yang suggested, pointing to a straight, full spruce tree about 2.4 metres, or just under eight feet, high.

Ruby went over and shook it. Only a few needles came off. "It seems to be okay."

"I don't know," Weiss objected. "Isn't it a little too big? Or a lot too big?"

Blake just shrugged, half-frozen even though she was well bundled up. "I don't really have an opinion on it."

Before there could be any more argument, Ruby took her scythe and swung it through the base of the tree- or tried to. It made it about halfway before getting stuck.

"Now look what you've done," Weiss snapped as Ruby tried to tug the implement free.

"Here, I've got it," Yang told her sister, grabbing a hold of the scythe handle. She gave it a hard tug and the handle came free with a satisfying snap. The satisfaction only lasted for a moment before she realized she'd separated the head from the handle.

"You two are idiots," Weiss snapped at them, disappointed both at her teammates and because she kind of wanted that tree.

"Here," Blake offered, handing her a hatchet.

Weiss took it. "At least someone knows what they're doing."

She stepped forward, hatchet in hand, and swung just above the stuck scythe. Very quickly, however, she found that the hatchet was much too small for the tree. She also found that she had no idea how to use the axe, having never done anything like it in her life.

"You need a little help there, Weiss?" Yang asked, laughing at her poor technique.

"Shut up!" she shouted back. "I've got it!"

Two more rough hacks later, the tree shook and started to fall. Unfortunately, the heiress hadn't thought of where the tree would fall when it came free, and it fell directly toward her.

In a flash of rose petals, Ruby zoomed in to catch the tree and save her teammate, only to slip on the frosty ground and land on top of her. The tree continued to fall and landed right on top of them.

As the heiress attempted to protest beneath her, Ruby pushed the tree up and to her right, rolling it off of them. She hopped to her feet and extended her hand to Weiss.

"I hate you so much right now," the heiress snapped, taking the offered hand anyway.

"So... is the tree okay?" Yang asked, trying and failing not to laugh.

"It's good enough. Let's just take it and go," Weiss fumed.

"Come on, that was fun!" Ruby argued, picking up the tree and hefting it over her shoulder.

"No, no it wasn't..." The heiress wilted under her partner's gaze. "Okay, maybe a little bit."

"See, Weiss? You can have fun!"


	18. Christmas Break, Part Two

Not much to say here. I've fixed some of the more glaring mistakes, brought things more in line with Aliens Among Us, and tightened up the timeline a bit. Again, if you've read A Christmas Emerging, it might be pointless to re-read this, but then again, we've had sixteen chapters to develop more context. Your choice.

* * *

**18: Christmas Break, Part Two**

"Okay, Blake, the tree is up, let's start decorating!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. She dropped another box full of decorations next to the tree.

"Where did you get those decorations?" Blake asked.

"Oh, me and Yang bought a bunch yesterday, plus we got some from Sam and his friends and the guys across the street," she replied dismissively. "So we should have enough to make the best tree we've ever made!"

"This is the first time we've put up a Christmas tree, Ruby," Blake pointed out.

She shrugged. "It's pretty much the same as a Yuletide tree."

"I do see the similarity," Blake admitted. She wondered if the traditions were related somehow.

"Besides, I asked Ben and he gave me some advice," the crimsonette added, opening one of the boxes. She pulled out four smaller boxes and shoved them into Blake's arms. "Lights first!"

"Lights?" Blake asked as Ruby took one of the boxes back.

Ruby opened the box and pulled out a long string of small multicolored lights, all wired together. "Lights!"

"And these go on the tree?" Blake asked, opening another box and inspecting the clear, glued-on bulbs. "Lights instead of glows... I suppose it makes sense."

"And these go on the tree!" Ruby replied excitedly, haphazardly wrapping the chain of lights around the tree. She grabbed another box and tore it open. "Come on Blake, put yours up!"

"Okay." Blake carefully unrolled her string of lights, surveying the tree. The younger girl had put up one string already and was already starting her second. There was no logic to the way she threw it around the tree, and there was no way Blake could follow on and make it look good.

She settled for wrapping her string around the middle of the tree in a distinctive band. By the time she had it arranged, Ruby was already done the lights.

Ruby held out a pair of plastic tubs. "Garlands? Or ornaments?"

The cat faunus pondered it for a moment. One one hand, Ruby would almost certainly make a mess with the garlands. On the other hand, several of the ornaments looked breakable. "I'll do the ornaments."

Blake cringed when Ruby dropped the box of ornaments at her feet with an ominous crash. Thankfully, most of the ornaments in the bin were still in there packaging. She decided to start with the balls and pulled them out of their plastic tubes.

Ruby eagerly started throwing on the garlands. They had eight long, fluffy strings of tinsel; two red, two whitish silver, two a deep purple-black, and two yellow-gold. She threw them on haphazardly, snapping them and tearing sections of tinsel on as she strangled the tree with the fluffy cords.

To Blake's horror, as soon as she was done- within a minute of starting- she started digging through the ornaments and helping. Blake was meticulous and careful with how she handled and placed the ornaments, but Ruby treated the ornaments with the same reckless abandon that she treated the garlands with.

"Uh, Ruby, you should probably be more careful with those," Blake said to no response. She quickly gathered up the most breakable looking ornaments and stacked them in the ball tube, intent on doing those herself.

"You're so slow, Blake," Ruby complained after throwing the last contents of a box of painted wooden ornaments from the now defunct Zellers onto their tree.

"I'm trying not to break them," Blake replied honestly.

"They'll be fine," Ruby dismissed. She hopped off the couch and stepped back. "Oh! We need to plug it in!"

She went back to the boxes of decorations and pulled out a tangled web of extension cords. She grabbed one and pulled, and it came free, minus the other end. "Oops."

"Let me get that," Blake told her. She took the ball and had three usable extension cords out of it in seconds. They took the cords and plugged in the lights, lighting up the tree.

"Are we finished?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know..." Blake replied. The tree had too many lights, too many ornaments, and too many garlands, but it still felt like it was missing something. "I feel like it's missing something."

"Yeah..." Ruby replied reticently. "Oh! The star!"

"At the top?" Blake asked.

"Yeah!" Ruby tore a plastic star out of its box and climbed up onto the couch again. She leaned over and managed to get it on top of the tree, teetering and almost falling.

"Maybe you should have-" Blake began, but was interrupted by having to catch the power adaptor Ruby threw at her. She plugged it in.

Ruby smirked triumphantly. "Now it's done."

* * *

While Ruby and Blake attempted to decorate the tree, the other two members of the team stood outside, hauling out the last boxes of outdoor decorations.

"Why do I have to be out here?" Weiss complained. "I thought you were going to do it with Blake."

Yang shrugged, "She said she doesn't like the cold."

"It's not cold," Weiss snapped.

"That's what I told her, too," Yang replied.

"Well, it's not that cold," Weiss grumbled. "She's your partner. I would much rather be inside decorating the tree with Ruby."

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do I sense a bit of jealousy."

She turned bright red. "Sh-shut up! It's not like that."

Yang laughed. "Come on, Weiss, I was just joking." She quickly added, "But if you do, I would rather have her dating you than some asshole."

Weiss turned red in the face and failed to sputter out a response. She finally managed something that had very little to do with her actual concern. "You swore!"

"You pick it up." The blonde shrugged. "Are you going to help me onto the roof, or not?"

"Why don't you use a ladder?" the still-flustered heiress snapped.

"The ladder's over there," she replied, motioning toward the garage. "I don't want to go back over there. Just give me a boost."

"I'm not using my Glyphs in a crowded neighbourhood."

"I didn't say anything about Glyphs."

"You have got to be kidding me," Weiss grumbled as she gave the taller, heavier girl a push onto the roof. She felt the weight go off her hands as Yang grabbed on, then with a crash she fell back onto Weiss. She wasn't prepared to take the weight and they both ended up on the ground.

Yang held out a broken piece of gutter in her gloved hand. "Oops."

"You idiot! You snapped the gutter right off!" the heiress shrieked.

"Only the front edge!" the blonde retorted "I didn't expect it to let go!"

"Let's just get the ladder and get this done."

* * *

"Are there any more of the big lights?" Yang called from the roof.

"Wait a second!" Weiss called. "I'm not done with the penguin. The stupid thing won't inflate!"

"Are you sure you set it up right?"

"Yes!" the heiress snapped. There was a pause, followed by the click of a cable being connected and an awkward, "No." A few seconds later, the penguin began to inflate.

"Can I have my lights now?" the blonde called again.

"Here!" A box went sailing over the roof and she caught it out of the air.

* * *

"Hmm..."

"You've been sitting there for a while now," Weiss pointed out. "Wait..."

The blonde looked up. "What?"

"You didn't think about how to plug it in, did you?" Weiss asked.

"Uh... we're going to need a lot of extension cords?"

* * *

The two of them stepped back and surveyed their handiwork. It had taken a long time, but they were finally finished.

Yang said slowly. "So... we're done."

"That's a disaster," Weiss criticized.

Yang disagreed. "It looks nice."

"It's a fire hazard."

"It's not that bad."

Weiss huffed and stalked toward the door. "Whatever. I'm going inside, I'm going to have a hot chocolate, then I'm going to bed."

* * *

After the initial excitement of the first few days of break, things had settled down again. They'd spent their time picking up a few last-minute gifts, wrapping everything, and finishing up the decor. When they weren't working on Christmas things, they were doing their usual relaxing: video games, television, movies, and aimlessly browsing the internet.

So it had surprised the Schness heiress when she walked into the kitchen the morning of Christmas Eve to have breakfast and was immediately attacked by her partner.

"Weiss!" the crimsonette cried, glomping her. "We need to make cookies!"

The heiress pulled herself free. "We made cookies yesterday."

"But I want more cookies," she pleaded, an irresistible begging look in her eyes.

"Ugh. Fine. We can make cookies."

"Yay!" Ruby shouted, zipping over and pulling Weiss into a tight hug. "You're the best teammate ever!"

"Get off me, you dolt," Weiss snapped, prying the crimsonette off. "Just... get the flour!"

* * *

"Are you just going to read that all day?" Yang asked, poking the book in her partner's hand.

"I don't see why not," Blake replied, shrugging.

The blonde sat down beside her. "Whatcha reading, Blake?"

She held out the book, cover toward Yang. "Long Walk to Freedom."

"That doesn't look like a smut novel," the blonde remarked, earning a glare from her raven-haired partner.

"I don't really read those anymore. There are far more interesting things to read about," she explained. "The escapism used to appeal to me, but now I'd rather learn."

"Deep, Blake," Yang commented. "What's it about?"

"It's nonfiction," she replied, putting the book down. "It's about Nelson Mandela and apartheid in South Africa."

"That's where they separated the black people from the white people and oppressed them, right?" Yang asked.

Blake nodded, surprised by how well informed her partner was. "That's right."

"That's pretty heavy for Christmas Eve."

"It's funny, isn't it," Blake remarked. "I'm horrified by it, but I keep coming back to it- all the stories of discrimination and hate. A world away and now I want to learn instead of escape. It's like some sort of morbid curiosity."

"Well, that makes two of us, then," Yang told her, pulling a book out of her pocket. "Stories from the Iraq War. Not too different from what it's like over there now."

"Not exactly Christmas Eve reading, is it?" Blake echoed mirthlessly.

* * *

"So... big day tomorrow," Yang said, broaching the subject as they lounged around. The news was blaring in the background, but nobody was listening.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "I hope we have everything right. Do we have the lights? The cookies? The presents-"

"Stop," Weiss snapped. "Do you think you have everything right?"

"I think so, but I'm not-"

"If you worry about getting everything perfect, you won't be able to relax and have fun," she told her partner.

"I thought you would be the most uppity about it, Weiss," Ruby said, surprised.

The heiress shook her head. "Once upon a time, Ruby. But I'm not the Schnee heiress here, I don't have to be perfect anymore."

"In a way, we've all escaped our pasts here, yet we haven't," Blake tried to explain, grasping her mug of hot chocolate. "We feel liberated, yet burdened."

"Well, that got heavy fast," Yang interrupted. "But we do have everything, right?"

"I think so- wait, no!" Ruby zipped out of the living room. They heard some crashing and bashing before she came out again.

"What did you do?" Weiss asked critically.

"I put out milk and cookies for Santa."

They shared an awkward look. Finally, Blake told her, "You know Santa's not real, right?"

Ruby nodded. "I know, but everyone does it."

"But who's going to eat it?"

Ruby smirked.


	19. Christmas Break, Part Three

Finishing off the Christmas arc, which was already written... okay, yeah, not terribly exciting. Next chapter will be New Year's, which is all new. It's scheduled for release next Friday, but there's a chance it'll be out before then.

I've omitted the Christmas movie this time, because I couldn't really find a good way to fit it in. I could repost it as an Aside, but it's still up as part of the original Christmas story, so I don't really see the point.

* * *

**19: Christmas Break, Part Three**

"Wake up!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs, shocking the rest of her team into wakefulness.

"Ruby, it's," Weiss muttered, checking her clock. "Seven in the morning."

"It's Christmas!" Ruby shouted excitedly. "Get up, Weiss!"

Reluctantly, Weiss stepped out of bed. Although she could function when she had to, she was not a morning person. Blake obviously was a morning person, already out of bed and standing beside her team leader. Yang had rolled over and put the pillow over her head.

"Yang, get up!" Ruby whined at her sister, pulling the pillow off. "Come on, get up!"

The blonde mumbled something and pulled the pillow back. Ruby pulled it off again and with surprising strength, pulled her sister out of bed. Yang muttered, "I'm awake, I'm awake," rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes.

By the time she figured out where she was, Ruby was already gone, racing into the living room. Blake shrugged and the three of them followed into the living room.

"Santa came!" Ruby shouted excitedly, showing them the empty glass and clean plate.

"I saw you eat those," Weiss told her. "You're not stealthy."

Ruby put down the plate and pouted. "Weiss, you're not embracing the Christmas spirit!"

"Just... get on with it."

"Okay!" Ruby put on a conveniently placed Santa hat and tossed each of her teammates their stockings.

"Stockings first?" Blake asked. Ruby nodded. "Okay."

They distributed the four coloured stockings- red for Ruby, white for Weiss, black for Blake and yellow for Yang. Then they started opening presents. Ruby ripped in quickly, Yang was only a step behind, while Weiss and Blake moved more slowly and methodically.

Blake was the first to comment on what she got. "A ball of yarn? Really, Yang, really?"

"How'd you know it was me?" She couldn't tell if her partner's surprise was fake or not.

Weiss told her, "Only you would make such a tasteless joke."

She turned to her own partner and her pile of cookies, chocolate, and candy, "Is that all junk food?"

"You contributed too, Weiss," Yang pointed out. Beside her were a few chocolate bars, a can of barbecue Pringles, a pair of yellow socks and a lighter engraved with her emblem.

"I'll have you know that I only bought the Aero and the keychain." She folded her arms.

"What did you get?" Ruby asked, ignoring her and leaning over her shoulder to look at her pile. Weiss had less candy, but there was a book and a pair of earrings among the pile. "The earrings was me! Do you like them?"

"Yes, Ruby, they're lovely," she half-lied. Weiss liked the _look_ of them, but not the $24.99 price tag that was still attached.

"Blake, you've been awfully quiet," Yang commented. "You're not still mad about the ball of yarn, are you?"

"Huh? No." Her partner was reading the back of a blu-ray case. Beside her was another movie and a book along with a bag of hard candies and another hat.

"Yeah, that one was me, too," the blonde said, pointing to the case she was reading. "I saw you reading the book, and I figured-"

"Present time!" Ruby shouted, dropping a box on each of her teammates. While they had been talking, she had been pulling from under the tree, looking for a specific set which she quickly found.

"This is surprisingly thoughtful," Blake said after opening her box. "I was expecting more merchandise."

"Hey, they know us," Yang told her. "Scarily well, actually."

"From Gemstone," Ruby announced, setting another, smaller box on the coffee table. She dumped out the contents- a lot of wrapping, several gift cards, and card that said "Sorry" on it.

"Well, they should be," Weiss huffed.

"They're busy, Weiss," Yang told her. "You know, doing all that top secret spy stuff. At least they got us something."

They continued through the pile of presents, which gradually thinned out at they opened gifts and shoved the unwrapped contents wherever they would fit. They unwrapped books and movies from their friends, a box of chocolates with a label that had fallen off, a second pair of headphones for Ruby, and even a CD with Christmas songs before getting to the bottom of the pile.

"This one's from me!" Ruby shouted excitedly, shoving a poorly-wrapped box into Weiss' arms. "Open it, Weiss! Open it!"

The heiress complied reluctantly, prying through the layers of tape and removing the wrapping from the box underneath. She opened the box and shook it, and two rings fell out. "What is this?"

"They're friendship rings!" Ruby pointed out excitedly. "I got the idea from a story I read on the internet."

"Really, Ruby?" Weiss asked, putting one of them on anyway. She didn't want to hurt the crimsonette's feelings, after all.

"Well, that was a thing," Yang said, her tone a mix of elation and disappointment.

"Christmas isn't about the presents," Ruby told her team. "We've got nothing to do today, so let's relax and have fun."

* * *

"Hey, we've got Christmas cards!" Yang shouted, waving the items above her head as she came in from the outside.

"Oh, no!" Ruby panicked, standing up and nearly knocking her hot chocolate off the coffee table. "We didn't write any!"

"I'm sure they'll understand," Weiss told her. "We're from another planet, after all."

"Who sent them?" Blake asked. After a moment, she dismissed it with a wave. "Nevermind. Let's just open them."

Yang joined them in the living room, placing the stack of cards on the table. "Rubes?"

The team leader nodded and picked one off the stack. "This one's from Ben and Jen."

She tore it open, revealing an index card with a few words in bold black sharpie scrawled on the inside. "_Check your email_. I guess they sent us a virtual card."

"This one looks nice," Weiss commented, opening a light blue envelope. Inside was a store-bought Hallmark card with some pencil scribblings inside. "From the guys across the street. Have a great Christmas. Don't feel too bad about keeping us here, we're having our own Christmas anyway."

"Aww," Ruby said, a mixture of sympathy and sadness. She picked the next one off the pile and opened it, revealing three cards inside. "From the other guys, I think."

"Well, read them," Weiss said impatiently.

"This one is from Isaac," Ruby said, showing the first one. "I can't read his writing."

She took the next one, which was a store-bought card. "It's from Cliff, but he didn't write anything in it."

The last one was readable. "Merry Christmas, Sam."

"I get the feeling they don't send a lot of Christmas cards," Blake offered.

"Well, they tried," Ruby allowed.

"This one looks really official," Yang said, taking an embossed envelope. She tore it open and pulled out a card, smiling when she opened it.

"What's so funny?" her partner asked.

She turned the card around and showed everyone the various messages and names scrawled inside. "It's from the Gemstone guys. I guess they had to use the fancy card but they still wanted to make it personal."

"Last one," Ruby said, holding up an envelope which she quickly tore open. It was a commercial-quality, full-color card, but the logo and images plastered all over it gave it away as custom. She opened it, revealing a large group photo and several scrawled messages.

"Gotta love Monty's signature," Yang commented, pointing at one of the scribbles.

"Well, that was nice," Weiss remarked, getting a chorus of nods and verbal agreement.

* * *

"That's a pretty fancy dinner," Yang remarked as she surveyed the dinner table. Beside her, Weiss resisted the urge to snort.

"It's turkey!" Ruby exclaimed. "This is traditional for Earth."

Weiss inspected the cooked bird. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to roast it, not buy it from Superstore."

"I didn't buy it from Superstore," Ruby pouted.

She looked skeptical. "Oh, really?"

"No, I bought it from IGA!" Yang told her. The sisters shared a laugh, and Weiss facepalmed.

The heiress surveyed the spread. Pre-cooked turkey was flanked by microwaved frozen vegetables, gloopy gravy made from powdered mix, and bakeoff rolls.

"Come on, Weiss, you've been eating crappy food for months, this is a step up!" Ruby tried to be positive, but looked sad and disappointed.

Weiss didn't notice. "That didn't pretend to be good food. This is a mockery of good food."

"It's really not that bad, Weiss," Blake told her. She didn't notice.

"But Weiss..." Ruby whined, once again using the irresistible eyes on her partner.

"Alright, fine," she sighed, sitting down beside the crimsonette.

Ruby shrugged and said, "Okay, then let's eat!"

She dug in immediately, piling her plate high with turkey and vegetables covered with gravy, then grabbing several rolls out of the basket. Yang did the same, except her plate was even more full. Blake was more restrained but still had a good amount of food.

Weiss was hesitant, but resigned herself to at least trying to appreciate the facsimile of a proper dinner. She took a few slices of turkey, inelegantly dumped gravy on it, and added a single roll and a spoonful of vegetables.

To her surprise, the food, while far from good, was well within the range of tolerable, and even _okay_. Besides, the special dinner wasn't really about the food. Not everything had to be perfect.

* * *

"Well, that was fun," Yang said to nobody in particular as they settled down for the night. "Still, it's over, after all that buildup..."

"It's not an unfamiliar feeling," Blake admitted. "One that will probably return often in the future."

"But did you like it?"

"Yes," Blake answered simply.

"Rubes?"

"Well, I had fun. Did you enjoy it, Weiss?" Ruby asked her partner, sitting on the side of her bed.

"It wasn't perfect," Weiss admitted. She quickly

"Okay, goodnight." With that, Ruby flopped over and fell asleep. Of course, she was still on her partner's bed, and landed right beside Weiss.

"Goodnight," Weiss whispered to her partner.

The other two members of Team RWBY struggled not to laugh at the sleeping girl and the flustered but smiling heiress.

"Should we do something?" Blake asked finally.

Yang grinned lecherously, moving to her partner's bed. "Do you wanna be the big spoon or the little spoon?"

"Yang!" Blake hissed, shocked. "I meant about _that_!" She motioned to Ruby and Weiss.

"I'm just kidding." She leaned in close and whispered, "Or am I?"

"Goodnight," Blake hissed again, shutting off the lights.


	20. A New Year On A New World

Again, playing with a new style a bit. This is probably the most experimental of my fics so far. It's a pretty thin chapter, I know, but I like the feel of it.

Review replies to reviews for the past few chapters are at the bottom.

* * *

**20: A New Year on a New World**

_In a broad strip down the west coast of North America, millions prepared to ring in the New Year. They poured champagne, tuned into time-shifted New Years programs, and edged a little bit closer to their friends and family._

_10_

Ruby Rose remained optimistic about the year ahead. Their time on this world had its ups and downs, but it was very interesting, and dare she say it fun overall. Would they find new opportunities here? Would they find a way home? She didn't know, but she looked forward to finding out.

_9_

Weiss Schnee was more cynical than her partner. The previous Terran year had been horrible, no doubt about it. The next year would probably be more of the same, hopefully without the dramatic parts. Unlike her partner, she had no illusions about finding their way back. But Earth was tolerable, and in some ways she actually had more liberty here than she did at home. She could live with it. She had to.

_8_

Blake Belladonna couldn't stop dwelling on how absurd their lives were. They were literally celebrating the turning of a new year on a completely different planet. She had lived under false identities before, but never as a complete alien. Yet it had all become so normal for them.

_7_

Yang Xiao Long had much the same thoughts as the cat faunus, though her attitude was different. It was a symbolic change, going from a horrible year to one that would hopefully be better. Their lives were absurd, indeed, and sometimes awful, but they would get better and more normal. Or they'd just get used to it.

_6_

Gavin Lloyd was positive overall, but had a few reservations. The previous year had been one of his best, but he knew the next one would bring a lot more challenges with it. He'd been preparing the best he could, but wasn't looking forward to letting go of high school, of his team, of the life he had known so well. He tempered it with the knowledge that there was a lot of opportunity, too. The future was uncertain, but that wasn't a bad thing.

_5_

Aaron Wong allowed himself a rare moment of reflection. He ended up dwelling on the previous year more. The things he'd done right- football, friends, sticking to being himself instead of changing. The things he'd done wrong- Blake and basically any other girl. It wasn't in his nature to dwell too long, though. Maybe he shouldn't act without thinking- maybe that could be his resolution. The new year would be very different, but he didn't know how and didn't care.

_4_

Vicki Lee knew that the facade she put up was absurd, pointless, and couldn't last. She knew that, her like-minded friends knew that, the people she looked down on knew that. It was petty and silly, but acting like a pretentious brat worked in high school. They'd created a clique that shouldn't exist and they loved it. Somehow, she doubted she'd be able to continue once she crossed the stage.

_3_

Connor Lloyd was far more excited about the next year than the last. The previous year wasn't terrible, but it hadn't been great either. He was still the weird kid who hid in the corner. But now he'd made his first girl friend, even if they weren't together, he was happy with his nerdy friends, he knew that he was going in the right direction with his life. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but he had already hit rock bottom. Things could only go up.

_2_

Harry Iverson considered the past year- or at least the last part of it- the strangest of his already quite impressive career. Superhumans, real aliens, from another universe, now high school students. He was already speculating on what would occur in the next year; it was useless, idle speculation, of course, but he couldn't help himself. He hoped for a clean conclusion to the current mess, but that would be far too easy. The cynic in him _knew_ it would only get messier.

_1_

Sam Georgeas knew he would remember the previous year as the one where his world was turned upside down, shaken up, and thrown back. He'd met an alien- a _fictional_ alien- travelled around the world as a people smuggler, been shot at, and then been thanked by the government and told to go back to his old life. He'd try, continuing along the same path as before, but he saw the world differently now and knew it. The next year wouldn't be as crazy as the last, but it wasn't quite back to normal.

_Throughout the time zone, glasses clinked as 2014 became 2015. Everyone had their predictions, everyone had their resolutions, but nobody really knew what the New Year would bring._

_Only time would tell._

* * *

ODST110 (chapter 16): Wish granted... sort of.

linkthetoaoftime (chapter 16): I don't think Yang is really completely different, it's more that different parts of her personality have been pushed forward and other ones pulled back. Yang is shallow, flirty, and fun-loving, but can also be contemplative and caring, and that's the side of her I'm trying to focus on. I'm The biggest change, I think, is that she's more restrained in a way, but that can be said for all of them. Except possibly for Weiss.

Guest (chapter 15): Not everyone is that literal. I do agree the teacher used a poor choice of words, though.

ODST110 (chapter 18): That too.

some guy (chapter 18): They can interbreed freely, and offspring have some Terran and some Remnan traits.

GreatWyrmGold (chapter 16): That's a pretty good way of putting the difference between this and Emergence. Which headcanons are you interested in? Real people run the full spectrum. The good guys aren't always likeable and the bad guys aren't always bad people. I do try to make characters varied and interesting, even if they don't fall into nice clean categories. And people tend to be a lot more irreverent than characters in general.

GreatWyrmGold (chapter 17): Gah, of course the revised version managed to introduce more errors. They've done some reactions to media in the Asides, but I don't like writing them. It's really, really time-consuming. I'll try to add some more into their thoughts and casual dialogue, though. I would have liked to have seen more about Remnan culture in RWBY as well, but this way I have more latitude to work with.

GreatWyrmGold (chapter 18): I may or may not have repeated a sentence twice. The comment probably wasn't in the original; to be honest, though, I'm not sure how much I've added and taken away.

ChimaTigon (chapter 18): Maybe. Another museum trip could be in the works.

coolshades45 (chapter 18): They could be homosexual, but it's not guaranteed, and I prefer a mix of alternate theories anyway. They can also be delicate and careful when they choose.

GreatWyrmGold (chapter 19): I teased it quite a bit more in the Christmas special. I thought about toning it down for the rewrite, but ultimately decided to leave it in.

fierblaze (chapter 19): Right now, it's the very beginning of January in-universe. It'll be a few chapters before we get to February, but there will be a revised/reworked version mixed in similar to the Christmas special.

MoreClass (chapter 19): I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say here, but I already have firm plans that go pretty far out, and sexual relationships between Terrans and Remnans have already occurred.


	21. Back To A New Normal

A day early... yay? Those You Leave Behind will probably be one day early or late as well.

Writing 15 and 17 year olds having conversations you don't remember is hard. I also haven't been in a weightroom in something like five years. Is it odd that I find writing slice-of-life a lot more difficult than writing suspense and action?

* * *

**21: Back to a New Normal**

"Alright, Team RWBY!" their leader announced, zipping onto the table in the middle of the room. "Since it's a new year, we will be getting off our lazy butts and doing more!"

"Oh, great," Yang moaned.

"She does have a point," Weiss reminded her. "We haven't exactly been doing a lot."

"We've been going to school,"

"It's a fairly easy school," Blake pointed out. "Even with our disadvantages."

"It's almost like a vacation," Weiss opined. "A really strange one, but-"

Ruby had heard most of the conversation. "We can't spend forever on vacation! Our world is still out there, somewhere-"

"Is it?"

She turned and pointed a finger. "No negativity, Blake!"

"What do you mean by doing more?" Weiss asked, folding her arms.

"One! We haven't been practising! We haven't been training! We haven't been exercising!" She smacked a knife hand into her palm for emphasis. "This stops now! We can't use our weapons or Semblances, but we can still spar, and we can still keep our bodies in tip-top shape."

"That's actually something I can get behind," her sister muttered. Her partner and the white-haired heiress groaned.

"Two! This world has a lot to offer, but we've barely taken advantage of any of it!" Another knife-hands emphasis. "Remember how I said we'd go to a museum every weekend? From this point forward, we will actually do it! We shall also put more effort into reading more books, watching more movies, and playing more video games to soak ourselves in the culture of this world!"

_Is she serious?_ Weiss whined internally- or at least she thought it was internal.

"Probably," Yang told her. "Sort of."

Ruby hopped off the table. "Third! We haven't been looking for a way home! I don't know how to do that, but we're going to try to find our way back!"

"If we can-"

She clamped a hand over Blake's mouth. "_No negativity_, Blake!"

Yang slid beside Ruby's partner. "I think the new year has already gone to her head."

"Are we clear, team?" Ruby asked.

Weiss sighed. "Yes."

Blake stated, "I suppose."

Yang shrugged. "I'm in."

Ruby smiled broadly. "Great! School starts in three hours! Let's get ready now so we can hit the ground running!"

* * *

"So that's the girl?" Thorvald asked, elbowing his friend and pointing. Although his name suggested a big, powerful Nordic fighter, he fit better into the Scandinavian geek stereotype, with a skinny build and long hair.

"I told you, she's not my girlfriend," Connor complained.

The hoodie-clad Indian boy next to him shrugged. "She could be, maybe?"

Connor shook his head. "No, Patrick, I don't think so. I'm like the last of us who's gonna find a girlfriend. I don't even know how that _works_."

"You think she's into games?" Patrick, the kid in the hoodie, asked after a pause.

"I dunno. She builds robots, though, and she's pretty good at that."

"So she does stuff with her hands, that's cool. She is kind of geeky looking."

"What are we even talking about?" Connor moaned.

At that point, the girl in question noticed them, spinning around and waving from the far side of the schoolyard.

"Dude, she looks like Ruby Rose," Thorvald noted, adjusting his thin glasses.

"Who?" Connor asked.

"You know that RWBY thing that Monty Oum is making?" Connor shook his head, so he continued, "It's like an anime styled 3D web animation. They've finished two seasons- it's pretty good."

"Oh..." So _that's_ what she looked like. "I thought she looked a bit familiar."

"Hey, Connor!" she shouted, sprinting toward them with a large backpack bouncing up and down crazily on her small frame.

"Are you sure it's not just the name throwing you off?" Patrick suggested. "I mean, there's this perceptual bias thing where if you think something is related you'll draw connections that aren't there."

They didn't get a chance to continue. Ruby zipped in front of them, sliding to a stop. "Hey, Connor! How was your break?"

"Uh, it was good, I guess," he replied awkwardly. "I got the new 3DS for Christmas."

"Really?" Patrick whispered.

She noticed them and greeted quickly. "Oh, sorry! You must be Connor's friends! Hi! I'm Ruby!"

"I'm Thorvald. Yeah, yeah, I know. You can call me Thor, but obviously nobody does."

"Patrick."

"Hey, the bell's gonna ring in a minute, we should get to class," Ruby announced, practically dragging Connor away. "Nice to meet you bye!"

"What just happened?" Thorvald asked as they ran off.

"They're totally together," Patrick muttered. "Together-together."

"No, I mean, she _acts_ like Ruby, too." They shared a laugh at that one. "We should probably get to class."

* * *

"Hey, Blake?" Yang asked suddenly as she tossed the remains of her lunch in the garbage. Ruby had dragged Weiss off to show her a robot or something, leaving her alone with her partner. "Wanna go to the gym and work out?"

She thought about it for a moment before putting her book away. "I suppose. I was going to read, but I have been getting out of shape."

They grabbed their backpacks and headed toward the gym. The blonde asked her partner, "Did you bring gym strip."

She nodded.

Yang rounded on the cat faunus. "Wait, if you were just going to read, why did you bring it?"

"I packed it last night after Ruby's speech," she replied.

"Feeling inspired?"

"She does have a knack for it, despite her immaturity," Blake admitted. "Ozpin didn't make her leader for no reason."

"Ozpin... I wonder how they're doing." She chewed her lip contemplatively. "Do you really think there's no way back?"

"Come on, Yang, as far as we can tell, this is another universe, one that doesn't even abide by the same rules," Blake said honestly. "We have no idea how we got here, let alone how to get back. I wish we'd all drop that silly delusion that everything's going to go back to normal."

"It's not silly," Yang chided, more harshly than she meant. "It gives her something to strive for. And Ruby-"

"What if she doesn't find it? You of all people-"

"Do you remember the other half of the conversation, Blake?" Yang interrupted quietly. "Searching is one thing. Letting it take over your life is another. She won't let it take over her life. Not Ruby."

"I suppose."

"Come on, kitty cat, enough of the dark talk," She slapped her cheerfully on the back before throwing open the door to the change room. "Let's have some fun and build some muscle."

They changed quickly and in silence. Yang stripped off her street clothes and threw on a black tank top and orange shorts. Blake had a violet T-shirt and dark grey sweatpants. After double-checking that there was nobody else in the room, she swapped her normal hat out for a grey and blue one.

The notion of gender-segregated changerooms was one they still found odd. Blake blamed the long history of gender segregation, while Yang simply attributed it to Terrans being more prudish.

The weight room was a small, densely packed abode attached to one side of the gym. A handful of students, all male, were spending their lunch break working out. Among them was Gavin, who was spotting for his friend Darrel as he bench-pressed a large barbell.

Gavin nudged him after he finished his last rep and pointed to the blonde. He whispered quietly, "That's her. Yang. Well, Linda, but- I told you this already."

"The anime girl you like?" Darrel took what he thought was a discreet look. "Man, she really is fucking _hot_."

"First of all, she's not an anime girl," Gavin reminded his friend as he returned the weights to the stack. "She really hates that. Second, no comment. Third, yes, she is hot."

Darrel noticed that she had a friend, a smaller young woman with black hair and a toque. "Who's her friend? The one with the hat."

Gavin chuckled. "You don't remember? That's Bella Blake. She prefers Blake."

"Because of Twilight?"

"I dunno but probably."

They expected the girls to head for the treadmills after finishing their stretching- usually, they were only interested in cardio- and were surprised when they headed over to the bench Darrel just left. The blonde picked up a bar and started shoving weights onto the end with it balanced in her lap. She said something to her dark-haired companion, but the boys couldn't hear it from the other side of the room.

Darrel's eyes widened at the awkward manoeuvre. "Jesus Christ, she's gonna kill herself."

Eager to play the hero, he rushed over and warned her, "Hey, you should be careful with that. They're pretty heavy. If you do it like that, you could hurt yourself."

The blonde girl blew him off completely. "Relax, I've done this before."

"With that much weight?" He noticed that although she had well-defined muscles, Yang was still quite lightly built. There was no way she could lift that. "That's like 300 pounds."

"Really?" the blonde asked, looking at the plates. "What's that in kilograms?"

"Uh..."

"It's just under 150," Blake told them. So she was the smart one?

"Eh, I'm out of practice." She held the barbell out to her companion, who looked like she would fall over with the weight. "Blake, got it?"

"I've got it." She held the bar with both hands, struggling a bit but keeping a firm grip. Yang climbed onto the bench and took the barbell back.

"Wow, I've been out of it for a while," Yang commented after a few repetitions, letting her friend take the bar.

"You want to stop?"

"No way." Blake handed the bar back and she continued.

Darrel stood there, his thought processes locked by a confusion and a mixture of other emotions and feelings.

Gavin sighed as he walked over and almost literally dragged his friend away. "Sorry about him."

"Oh, hey, Gavin," Yang greeted between reps. "Can't. Really talk. Now. See you in. English?"

"Sure." He turned to his friend. "Come on, Darrel, time to do some squats. You've been slacking, you lazy bastard."

"Eh..."

When they made it to the other side of the room, Gavin added, "Besides, I called first dibs."

"You can have her," Darrel told him. "She's like the fucking She-Hulk. And probably a lesbian."

"She is not a lesbian," Gavin countered.

He received a shrug in response. "So maybe she's bi? Those two are totally together."

"They are _not_ together."

Another shrug. "Whatever, man."

There was an awkward pause before Gavin asked, "You still think she's hot, though, right?"

Darrel risked another glance at the two girls. "Smoking. Just fucking scary, too."

* * *

If Weiss was asked describe Business class in one word, it would be disappointing. If she was allowed a few more, she would state it was a largely uninformative course that one could pass simply by showing up. If she was forced to say something positive, she would grudgingly admit that it was an acceptable overview that gave her an idea of what to look for.

"Good afternoon," Ms. Patil greeted as she hurried into the classroom. As usual, she was slightly late, something which the heiress found ironic. "Since we just got back, we will have an easy assignment today. In groups, you will look at a marketing failure and analyze why it did not work. Your answers do not need to be correct- I want to know what you think. We will learn the real stuff in the next weeks."

In other words, they were wasting today, too. The small-statured teacher gestured to a section of the room with her hands. "You four will be working together."

"Do we have to work with her?" Lisa moaned, glaring at Weiss.

"In the business world, you will have to work with those who offer what you need, whether you like them personally or not," Ms. Patil told them. "So yes."

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh."

The teacher tossed them a thin booklet, and they pushed their desks Lisa completely ignored Weiss, turning so she didn't have to look at the her. Vicki and Daffodil at least tried to be diplomatic.

"So, how was your break, Anna?" Vicki asked, trying to strike up conversation.

Her answer was curt. "It was fine."

"Why are you talking to her?" Lisa hissed.

"I'm trying to get to know new people," Vicki replied. "It's my New Years resolution. Besides, maybe she's like us."

"I can hear you, you know," Weiss said offhand. "And I am _nothing_ like you."

"Really?" It was almost a challenge.

"I suppose your family is as rich and arrogant as you are?" Vicki didn't get a chance to respond. "As far as I know, my family is _dead_."

"I'm sorry," Vicki replied awkwardly. Lisa opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it and kept silent. Daffodil turned away and slumped into her seat. "I didn't think-"

"It's fine," Weiss replied, feeling kind of bad for killing the conversation and going a _little_ too far. In a way, it was and it wasn't a lie. She honestly didn't miss her bastard father at all, but she _was_ concerned for her sister. "Let's just get started."

"Right..." Daffodil picked up the packet and began reading. "Sally Smart owns the Golden Dreams Laundry Factory in Whistler. It is a small self-serve laundromat she purchased a year ago from its previous owner. The business is not making money and she is almost broke-"

"Well, duh," Lisa pointed out. "It's a horrible name. Golden Dreams makes it sound like they're going to make your laundry _dirtier_."

"It sounds like a Mistralian brothel," Weiss muttered.

"A what?" Lisa asked.

"It sounds more like a brothel," she repeated, covering her previous mistake.

"What's a brothel?"

"You know, an aristocrat's club." The three Terrans looked at her. She sighed. "It means _whorehouse_."

"Oh..."

"I would have said a kind of weird sex," Daffodil pointed out quietly. "Like where they w-"

Vicki held up a hand to silence her. "Stop there, too much information!"

"I can't believe we're talking about this," Lisa groaned.

_So beneath the surface, they're still the same as everyone else_, Weiss admitted to herself. She forced herself to focus, picking up the discarded booklet. "Okay, we can all agree the name is bad. What else did she do wrong?"

* * *

"So... grand plans?" Yang asked her sister, dropping her bag in the foyer.

Ruby flopped onto the couch. "Tomorrow."

Weiss whispered to the blonde, "I knew it."

Blake just shrugged, curling up in a chair and turning on the TV.

Suddenly, their leader bolted upright and snatched the remote. "Nope!"

She changed the channel to 36- BBC World News- and flopped back onto the couch. "We should at least try a _little_."

* * *

Tatopatato: What did you dislike about the Christmas chapters?

ODST110: I've been following a more or less consistent weekly release schedule. You can look forward to a new installment every Friday.

some guy: Not exactly, although they'd probably be competitive with them.

GreatWyrmGold: I don't really want to write pages here, but I'll toss a few headcanons down. Next to no gender discrimination or segregation. Tendency toward much more open sexual orientation to the point of not considering homosexuality abnormal. Crappy radar, seekers, missiles in general. Computers slightly behind ours, more focused on automation and robotics than pure computation. No space launch capability, no satellites, limited data networking capabilities. Limited knowledge of aerodynamics. No nuclear technology. Powerful engines and an overall preference for them. Societies that we would consider communist or collectivist as well as undemocratic. I don't think they're _that_ far behind us in science. I do see them having a much greater focus on science with immediate use versus the way-out theoretical stuff, and probably behind on soft sciences like sociology and anthropolgy as well. One headcanon: next to no knowledge of quantum physics.

Happy1K1nob1: No comment.

coolshades45: We'll see fairly soon, and I never said it was one of them.

MrKaboom: Blake has strong feelings, positive and negative, about many of Earth's leaders. Like many of us, she hates Hitler and loves MLK, but because of her experiences the feelings are very strong.

Fourze (chapter 16): That's what I was told when I asked.


	22. Finishing Touches

I'm not really happy with this- it's really rehashy, for one- but I was busy and ran out of time and it's still a day late. I'll try to make the next one more impressive.

* * *

**22: Finishing Touches**

_**Ruby Rose**_

I thought the last part of the semester would be really hard and a lot of work, but it was actually pretty easy. At Signal and even worse at Beacon it was all about finishing up the term and lots of hard exams to study for. But I only had tests for Science and Socials. I spent a lot of time studying but they were easy and they were done by the beginning of the week. It was a little harder for Weiss and Blake and Yang because they had more harder courses but it was still much easier than Beacon.

And then there was the last part of engineering, which was actually really awesome. Everyone showed off their project. I had my "RWBY-themed" robot Crescent Whirl, of course, which was all done by that time. I saw quadcopters, which were apparently a big new thing on Earth, and wondered if they could be armed somehow. Yeah, I know, everything has to be a weapon, part of that is because I'm a weapons geek but some of it is just part of being a Remnan. Maybe they don't build guns like us and their fabrication tech is kind of crude but the Earthicans can make some really cool stuff.

I also got to meet Connor's friends and get to know them a bit. Thorvald is this skinny guy with glasses. Apparently his name is Viking or something. Patrick has a funny accent and he has some really weird and silly theories about what Remnant is like. It was hard not to laugh or correct him. They're weird but that's okay because I know I'm weird too, on Remnant and on Earth.

I signed up for a bunch of courses that sounded cool, but of course I didn't get all of them. I was getting used to Earth even though my life was still messed up. I told myself and everyone that we would find a way back, but honestly I wasn't sure. But I had to believe it because if I stopped being positive and stopped looking then we wouldn't. And I know I was a little hard on my team when I started pushing to do more but we really do need to make the most of it whether we can find a way back or not.

There was one thing I was kind of nervous about, though. Everyone else was graduating at the end of the year, but I still had more to go. They said I should have two more but I could do it in one if I worked hard. Would we still be a team after that? I mean, technically we're not a team anymore but we still stick together like we still are because it's all we have left. But after they graduate, are we just gonna go our separate ways? Are they going to leave me behind?

I know it's a doubt I shouldn't have but I know better than anyone that life isn't a fairy tale, even if we do try really hard to be positive and make it like one.

_**Weiss Schnee**_

It was odd being a peasant and an alien.

My life had been laid out to me on a silver platter. I would receive the best possible education in the world in order to head the most powerful company in the world. Every step written down, every move choreographed. But along with the silver platter came the gilded cage. I had to be perfect, I had to fit the image my father wanted for the company.

I was the Schnee heiress, after all. But now I'm just Anna Weiss.

Earth was so much different yet so similar to Remnant. This was a world that had managed to take a situation without the constant threat and hugely destructive weapons and make their own. Absurd when you thought about it, but nobody ever thought about it. Most people seemed to be more concerned about getting through tomorrow, and in a monetary sense, not even a survival sense. Most of those with good intentions wasted them on impossible causes.

Perhaps I was pessimistic. On Remnant, we had lapsed into routine as well. Always with constant reminders at the back of our mind, but we had lapsed into routine. Perhaps they had different thoughts or the same ones. Or perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about. I did receive some instruction in psychology, but it was in what would be called _organizational behaviour_ here.

I had no idea if we would get back. Ruby was optimistic, Blake was pessimistic, Yang ducked the question. Honestly, I was more worried for my teammates than myself. Ruby and Yang had lost their family. Blake had lost... I'm not sure, but she looked lost, like she wasn't sure if there was anything left to fight for. I'd lost a father I hated, a company I didn't want... and a sister I wasn't allowed to love but did anyway.

Winter was the one thing that bothered me, or rather what she'd be going through. She was the heiress now, whether she liked it or not- and I knew she didn't. Everything that she had been spared from until now was now thrust on her. And it was probably worse, considering my father had always insisted I was the better heiress. I felt guilty. I told myself there was nothing I could do. I'd left what I could for her, but I knew it wasn't enough.

The whole thing was absurd, really. The heiress to the most powerful company on the planet, now living under an assumed name on another planet. But I suppose, as many have said, that's it's all relative. The life I'd had before was an impossible dream that many mistakenly strove for. Even when I'd broken away, the direction I took made sense to anyone one on Remnant but would draw blank stares on Earth.

I liked this life better than the one I had on Remnant, and I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

_**Blake Belladonna**_

When the semester turned, all I could feel was fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

I wasn't the only one. Grade 12 was the graduation year here, so it was very stressful for everyone. There were only a few months left of a sheltered, scripted life before being let into the world. I think it was worse for these people than it was for most of us. There's a lot more choice- everyone basically knows where they're going for years by this point where we come from, though not everyone. Here, half the people didn't have any plans at all.

But mine were different.

If people found out I was a Faunus on Remnant, I would be hassled and abused, maybe even attacked. If people found out I was a Faunus on Earth... that was a question I couldn't answer. There weren't centuries of hate, but I wasn't supposed to exist. They might hate me for it, or they might treat me like some kind of pet. If anyone would even believe it.

On the other hand, they might be concerned about my, as Aaron so eloquently put it, Soul Magic Bullshit. Speaking of him, I think he suspected, but nobody believed him, not even himself.

Where would we go from here? We're not exactly normal, and despite its appearance Earth was very, very different from Remnant. This is a world where there are no monsters but the ones we create for ourselves. This a world content to sit where it's at instead of pushing forward, because there's no reason to. This is a world where _hero_ means you died for a popular cause. Am I cynical? Maybe. But this is a world where cynicism runs rampant even among the optimists. Maybe that's just realism.

The immediate future wasn't too complicated. Advise Gemstone, maybe get a part-time job or take courses at university, wait for Ruby to graduate. Hopefully, we'd have better ideas by then. It was odd. I'd been focused on the White Fang before, then on running from it, then on becoming a Huntress. Now I was looking for something to focus on again.

And then there was Torchwick, the White Fang, Cinder Fall. The bad guys. Team JNPR, Professor Ozpin, the Schnees, Ruby and Yang's family. The good guys- well, those we'd left behind. What were they doing? It hadn't happened the way we'd seen it in the show, and it wouldn't happen that way. Were things better or worse? That still kept me awake sometimes.

I told myself it would be okay. I wasn't the only one living a lie. I had a team to share my burdens with. I had acquaintances, if not friends. I was living in a world that wasn't trying to kill me. I'd spent my life running and hiding from the authorities and now they were on my side. It was mundane in every way, and safe in every way. Almost.

But would it last?

_**Yang Xiao Long**_

Earth is weird. Everywhere I turn, I see things that are just different enough to throw me off. The food looks the same, tastes almost the same, but it doesn't fill you up the same. The cars look the same until you peek under the hood. The signs are bright, the brands are bold, but you don't recognize any of the labels. It's alien. But it's not.

I think I'm the least used to hiding things out of all of us. You'd think Ruby would be the most open and honest... but there's a lot more to her than people see. I don't think it's really a conscious thing for my sister, though. Weiss, well, she's lived behind a mask all her life, and only now is she really starting to take it off. Must be strange, only being able to be yourself on another planet. And Blake, well, actually, she's basically doing the same thing she did back on Remnant.

People are kind of the same here, even though they're way different. I mean, it may be a totally different place where money is a bigger worry than getting shredded by soulless monsters, and nobody has what would be called superpowers (which is kind of an awesome way of putting it), but I guess human nature is human nature.

I wonder if we'll be the same people after all this, or even if we still are anymore. We're lose an infinite distance from home, thrown into a crazy situation, and yet absorbed into a humdrum everyday routine. Some of us have been through hell, our lives are gone, and we're rising from the ashes. I think I'm actually more reserved now, Weiss is less reserved, Blake still confuses me and Ruby will always be Ruby.

And then there's Gavin. Probably just another teenage crush, but it brings up some important questions. What if we did find love? What if we did build lives here? If we find a way back, would we have to give it all up? Would we be willing to? Would our old world be willing to take us back? What would really happen?

We're in the weirdest, messiest, most confusing messy situation ever. And I'm totally fine with that. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss home, but this truly is the adventure of a lifetime. If we ever got back, it would be a hell of a story.

TheMAO17: Earth developed in a totally different way than Remnant, despite appearances. I don't think it's fair to say one is better than the other. However, they're used to Remnant, and often you really have to understand the context to understand why things turned out the way they did. Earth has a storied history and a lot of very mundane looking but effective tech. One of my main worries is that RT is going to depict Remnant as Earth plus soul magic and monsters, which would be a mistake in my opinion. You're going to develop very different civilizations around that.

* * *

Tatopatato: Tension, perhaps? They were originally written as disconnected, plotless drabbles.

KCNederland: It's actually ~138kg, I think, but your point still stands. I actually have no idea what people can lift- I based this number on an article about football players or something like that.

animal56: It will probably be not the next chapter but the one after.

GreatWyrmGold: Ruby is probably right about enjoying more fiction to learn more about our culture, which differs significantly from their own. No one calls him Thor because he's more Nordic Geek than Viking Warrior in terms of build and physical appearance. Believe it or not, that assignment is based on a real exercise I was given. Their cover is that they are all orphans with parents dead, absent, or with status unknown. Finally, no comment.

ManfredTHEALMIGHTY: Not with the characters we've seen here. I haven't really decided on ships yet, or whether they will be any. I think relationships with some of the Terran OCs are more likely than with each other.

coolshades45: Well, I'm not saying they are, but I'm not saying they aren't, either. Look back into history, though. Would they invade, though? That's an open question. There's a lot worth getting on the other side, but trying to take it by force would be very, very expensive. They know of their capabilities, but the other side doesn't know of ours, so I actually view an invasion from Remnant as more likely. You have a perfectly safe world on the other side, with no Dust and not Aura that they can detect. But Remnans aren't that brash or stupid either, so... a lot of tension, but open war is less likely. Unless someone's rigging the game.

some guy: The government is a very big organization with many levels and many members. The Prime Minister of Canada, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the President of the United States know about it. Some high-level members of the three governments such as the Secretary of Defense, Minister of Defence and the Vice President probably no about it. The question of Faunus is a big one, and I think their acceptance depends on the local culture- they might be treated much better in Sweden than Alabama, for instance. The initial "face" they present as a group is a factor, as well. Lastly, I want to do more Reacts-type chapters, but I just don't have the time to do them.

mastermind: The original plan was to backdoor it somewhat, but I abandoned that before release. I guess I never made it clear in the summary. I thought I used the same title image, but looking at it again, this story doesn't seem to have one at all. What happened was I implied there are/were Terran-Remnan hybrids on Earth.


	23. Second Semester

A new optimistic beginning for this story, kind of. Hopefully this part will live up to its promise more than the last. I am making some changes to the formula compared to the last half. There will be more plot rather than fluff, more events with less reflection, and more chapters centered on one or two characters instead of all of them. Some of these changes were always planned and some are now planned because of the feedback I have received. Hopefully this will make it a better story.

On a side note, maybe Yang actually got her flirtyness and snark from Summer and Taiyang is the really straight-laced, honest and caring one.

* * *

**23: Second Semester**

_**Ruby Rose**_

Our first class ever in the new semester was Military History, which was also the only class that we had together. I managed to convince Weiss and Blake and Yang to take it with me instead of other stuff, because it sounded interesting and we had to have at least one class together.

We sat together at the back, but we mixed up the order and because we didn't wear our old colors anymore we didn't look like a team anymore. The teacher was the Polish guy from socials we had last semester which I knew because of the schedule. But Yang didn't so she was surprised.

The class itself was just an introduction. Mr. K handed out course outlines and explained what we were going to cover. There was too much war on Earth to do all of it, so we would be starting with the invention of gunpowder and focusing on conflicts within the last two centuries. We would look at the causes of war, the politics, the technology and the battles. He stressed that the course was meant to explain why and how wars happened, and not glorify it or anything like that.

"Well, I think this is going to be a really interesting class," I said as we left the class.

Blake nodded in agreement. "I think so."

Weiss was skeptical. "We'll see."

I waved my hand in front of my sister's face. "Yang, are you okay?"

She blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to remember what I've got next."

"Team sports," Blake told her.

"I've got to get to Math," I told them, heading the other way.

The math classroom was pretty far away, not quite on the other side of the school but on another wing. But I was pretty fast so it didn't take me long to get there, although I almost knocked over a girl with purple hair on the way and I felt bad about not apologizing.

The math classroom was right beside the classroom I had science in last term. I thought it was weird to have it in a science lab but apparently that happened all the time here. I guess they taught chemistry in here because there were lots of chemistry posters. Of course none of them had anything about Dust on them.

I arrived a few minutes before the bell. Most of the class was already there and so was the teacher, who was this little lady with brown skin that I didn't recognize. I did recognize Connor and a few of his friends sitting near the middle of the room, though.

"Hey Connor!" I greeted, waving as I took a seat beside the brown-haired boy and his friends.

"Hi Ruby."

"Hey."

"Morning."

"Mmhmm..."

"I can't believe they're making me take this class again," a girl with glasses- no, the girl with glasses from socials- said as she sat down on the other side. "Fucking bullshit fucking math 10, I'm in grade 11 god fucking damn it."

Curiosity over came me and I had to ask, "Um... why did you fail math?"

"Why did your mom die?" she snapped back.

I froze up at that and sniffled. _Thus kindly I scatter._

"Oh my god, did your mom actually die?" Her tone changed in an instant and she looked really upset with herself. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. I was just making a joke and I guess I shouldn't have made the joke..."

I flashed her a weak smile. "It's okay, it was a long time ago."

I looked at Connor and Thorvald and Damon and Patrick, who looked really awkward. But then the class started and we all had to pay attention so it wasn't awkward any more.

* * *

_**Blake Belladonna**_

"Ah, there you are," I announced, walking up to the heiress in the middle of the hallway.

She whirled around and glared at me. "Did you have to sneak up on me?"

I didn't answer that, instead asking her for an opinion on the Contemporary History class we were heading to.

"Hopefully it'll be better than Business," Weiss groused. "That class looked great on paper, but it was terrible."

I raised an eyebrow. "It's not like we didn't have bad classes at Beacon."

"True," she replied. We continued toward the classroom for a while before she asked, "Do you miss it?"

That wasn't an easy question, and not particularly one I wanted to answer in a busy hallway. "Do you?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly. Offhand, she said, "This is an interesting place to escape your past, if nothing else."

I raised an eyebrow. "Have we?"

She continued rambling. "We could get used to this all too easily, couldn't we?"

"Could we?"

"Are you always like this?" I didn't reply, and she sighed. "Okay."

I followed her into the classroom, a relatively small one covered in maps and posters. She took a seat near the back of the room and I sat down beside her.

We weren't the first ones in the classroom. There were a few other students scattered around the room. I didn't recognize any of them by name, but a few looked familiar. I leaned over and asked Weiss. "Do you recognize anyone?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

The bell rang seconds later, but the teacher kept waiting at the front, checking her watch repeatedly. A

She turned out to be very energetic in a way that reminded me of Ruby or Nora. "Hi, I'm Willow! So you're taking this class, too? Who are you?"

"Anna Weiss." She didn't even bother pausing as she unpacked her books.

"I'm Blake," I answered with a smile.

"Isn't that a guy's name?" Willow asked, confused.

"It's actually my last name," I replied "honestly". This wasn't the first time someone had commented on my name. I'd looked it up, and it was a unisex name on Earth, but was a lot less common for girls here.

"Why do you use it?" She leaned closely and asked quietly, "Are you a lesbian?"

"No," I replied. The correct answer was actually "maybe", but I knew that was a very strange orientation to have here. "I'm actually a Bella, but after Twilight came out I started going by Blake."

"You don't like Twilight? Why don't you like Twilight?"

"Because it's a piece of shit," Weiss muttered from beside me.

I don't know if she heard or not, because the teacher decided to start class at that point. She shut the door before hurrying back to the front of the room. I watched as she shuffled some papers and searched for a marker before scribbling her name on the synthetic slate (whiteboard) at the front of the room: _Ms. Kruger_.

"Okay, everyone, welcome to Contemporary History 12," she began. Her voice was far from loud, but it was clear and confident. "History, I think, is seriously underrated in this day and age. As you will find out- and if you're here, maybe you already know this- the events of the past directly affect us today. Some say that history repeats, but I think it's more like it finds new ways to make the same mistakes. If you look at what's going on in the world today and what's happened even in the last century, you'll realize that quickly enough."

I nodded as she said her piece. That made sense, although I would add to it that people made the same mistakes in different ways even across worlds. Of course, I had a rather unique perspective that most others lacked.

She continued, "Contemporary History 12 covers major world events starting from the Renaissance and continuing to the past few years. We do repeat Social Studies somewhat, but we're going to go into a lot more depth. The history of the world is much too broad to cover in a high school course or even a university one. Instead, we will be focusing in on certain events that shaped the world we live in today."

She leaned down and started fiddling with a laptop computer. "We'll start the course easy. Today and tomorrow we'll be watching a sort of highlight reel of the last few centuries. You'll have to write a short report on this at the end, so please pay attention. I did put it on the Internet, so you can watch it again if you want."

As the teacher struggled with the technology, I leaned over and told Weiss, "Maybe it won't be so bad."

She inspected her nails. "Just wait."

* * *

_**Yang Xiao Long**_

I gave my tank top one last tug as I stepped out of the change room. It had been a while since I'd been here- I had been told not to come to the weight room for a while and certainly not to lift useful amounts of weight anymore. They'd bought us a bunch of exercise equipment, so it worked out. As I stepped out of the deserted girls' change room, I almost literally walked into a pair of familiar faces.

"Hey, Yang," Gavin said to me with a quizzical look. "You know what this class is, right?"

"It's like team sports, right?" Okay, that's not useful at all. "They said we're going to play all sorts of different sports."

He shook his head. "It's basically just extra practice for the sports teams."

What? I knew Gavin played football, and I knew football season was almost done or maybe already done. "I thought it's not your season anymore?"

He shrugged. "We've still got a little left. I'm going to try basketball again this year, but I'm probably going to get cut. Not exactly basketball player material."

That made sense. I turned to his friend, "What about you, Aaron?"

"Track, maybe," he replied. "Or I might just switch courses after football is done."

Gavin laughed. "Yeah, maybe I'll do that too. Do something like Musical Theatre."

"Bullshit!" Aaron said lightly to his friend before turning to me. "You look disappointed."

"Yeah, you really didn't know what this class was?"

"Well, no," I replied honestly. Well, as honestly as I could without saying _hey, I'm an alien, I'm here to study your Earthican ways of sportsball_. "I really though it was going to be a nice easy class where we just did a bunch of sports."

Aaron cocked his head with a little half-shrug. "If you're good at sports, it's fairly easy. If you're good enough to be on a team. Which I think you are."

_Nice try_. I knew exactly what he was hinting at, but I wasn't sure if he knew I knew. I shrugged and smiled noncommittally. "I don't know. I've never really played team sports before."

"Well, I guess they wouldn't exactly be considered-"

"Aaron, would you seriously fucking drop it?" Gavin's tone was light, but I could sense the warning in it. He gave a little shrug with his hands. "Sorry."

"It's okay," I replied with a smirk. "I think he's crazy, too."

"I'm right here, you know," Aaron whined.

While he stewed, I took a glance around. Most of the class was out of the change room by now, and- "Am I the only girl in this class?"

"Well, yeah," Gavin told me. "Maybe if you stick around until girls' basketball starts some of them will join. Especially since that perv isn't teaching the class anymore."

"Come on, man, it was just a rumour."

"Yeah, but he isn't teaching anymore, is he?"

"No, he's doing alternate ed now, but that doesn't mean that's why he got shoved there."

I was totally lost by that point. "Uh, what are you guys talking about?"

Gavin sighed. "Mister Clark, the guy who used to teach this class, had a reputation for staring at girls and maybe even feeling them up. Since that's pedo as fuck, they shoved his ass into alternate ed where the girls are either too retarded or too high to notice."

"So the rumour goes," Aaron insisted.

"You can get away with that?" I asked, probably more shocked than I should have been. I knew that kind of thing happened here, but I didn't know it happened _here_.

"Well, no, that's why they shoved him into alternate ed."

"Couldn't prove it."

"If they could, he'd be in jail."

They didn't get any more time to continue their discussion. The teacher, an older man in an Adidas track suit, came out and blew his whistle. I was relieved that the look he gave me, though confused, wasn't lecherous in the slightest.

* * *

_**Weiss Schnee**_

Chemistry was not the last class of the day, but I already found myself wishing it was. The day so far had been horribly unproductive and largely a waste of time. I knew I shouldn't care, didn't need to care, but it still felt wrong to waste time.

The cafeteria wasn't open yet, so lunch had been an unsatisfying variety of sandwiches, fruit cups, and preserved meat. I found myself munching on a chocolate bar in the beginning of the class. It was far from dignified, but I didn't really care anymore. I was, of course, still the first one in the room.

Punctuality wasn't highly valued on Earth, but then again, it wasn't highly valued on parts of Remnant either.

The classroom was at least a proper lab, even if it was starting to fall apart. The posters were worn, the tables filthy and scratched, the taps rusting. The whole room smelled of chemicals. I think this might be the worst classroom I've been in here, actually. There's quaint and there's dilapidated. This is dilapidated.

In retrospect, maybe I should have taken Physics like the rest of the team.

I recognized the teacher as she came in. It was Ms. Hahn, Blake and Yang's math teacher from the previous term. She hurried to the front of the room and began unpacking her computer and connecting it.

Another familiar face sat down beside me. Without facing her, I greeted in a neutral tone, "Good afternoon, Vicki."

"Good afternoon, Anna," she replied in a pleasant tone. It seemed more open than normal for her.

I turned to face her. I knew her clothes were expensive brands, ones that I just couldn't bother to buy anymore. Her brown hair blended well with her tan skin- wait, she had black hair. "Did you dye your hair?"

"Yeah, I wanted to make it a few shades lighter?" she asked, tossing it around. "Do you like it?"

I studied the look for a few moments. She asked for an appraisal, so I gave one. "Honestly, it looks no better or worse than before."

She sounded disappointed. "Oh."

"It just looks so similar to your natural hair. You have to try a more drastic change." I was trying to be encouraging, but I don't know if it worked. I wasn't supposed to be encouraging. I was supposed to be intimidating.

"Like your white hair?"

I smiled, or at least I hope I smiled. "Like my white hair."

"So why did you pick Chemistry?" Vicki asked, changing the topic.

I shrugged. Why did I? When I was the Schnee heiress, I focused on the science of Dust, and I guess this was the most similar, but I couldn't exactly say that. I gave a noncommittal answer. "It seemed like the most interesting option."

"And you waited until the last minute to take it?" She leaned a bit closer, and I could smell her no doubt expensive but nonetheless foul perfume. "Did you fail it?"

I had a stock, scripted answer for that. I could act when I needed to, and I made it sound convincing. "I got shuffled through the system a lot. When I got here, they found out I'd never taken a science 11 course before."

"Oh, wow."

"What about you?" I asked, curious.

"Well, I failed Physics last year, and I thought Chemistry would be easier," she explained "It has less math in it."

"You failed Physics?" How could you fail physics?

"I know, it was so embarrassing." She rolled her eyes. "I just look at all the algebra symbols and I get really confused."

Ms. Hahn, meanwhile, had finished setting up her laptop. She cleared her throat and announced to the class. "Sorry about the delay, these new projectors are really confusing. Welcome to Chemistry 11. Chemistry is a really interesting, broad, and fascinating field. Some chemistry courses are boring, but I'm going to try to make this one fun."

Vicki had a different opinion. She leaned over and whispered, "This is gonna be boring."

I resolved to keep an open mind, even as the cynicism crept in.

* * *

NexusRider161: See the author's note at the very top, and hold that thought.

15delgizzij: Blake was already cynical before, and since arriving on Earth she's only become more cynical. It does become a bit of a cycle, but there are a lot of things that cause her to take a quite dim view of Terrans. With that being said, her views have and will change over time.

animal56: I'm still undecided on pairings, if there will be any. As for the second, because they knew Ren, I think they'd be less likely to draw the conclusion of Ren=Monty.

GreatWyrmGold: One theme I've been playing with and trying to weave in is that Remnant really _isn't_ a mini-Earth. To the casual observer, at first glance, that's what it looked like, but when you go further it's really quite a bit different. To be fair, the assignment was somewhat more in-depth than that. I also doubt there would be an immediate war, but again, if there's an accident or someone deliberately provokes one side, all bets are off.

coolshades45: The four Kingdoms are very small and dense- one thermonuclear weapon would effectively destroy any one. The question is, would they believe that a (seemingly) technologically inferior opponent actually has that capability? And there are, or have been, hybrids.

some guy: That's a broad and open question. I think a lot of it depends on initial impressions. If we welcome the Faunus with open arms, or at least pretend to well enough that they think we are, then they'll probably be more friendly toward Terrans. On the other hand, if we treat them as freaks or second-class citizens, or if they get the impression that we are, then they'll probably lump us in with the Remnan humans. And yes.

mastermind: We are (arguably) technologically superior where it matters and militarily superior, but they might not know that. If they don't have proper intelligence, they might assume from the lack of Dust and Aura signatures that we're stone-using cavemen. Or that we don't know what war is because we don't have any Grimm to fight. Of course, listening to our broadcasts for a couple of hours should clear away those misconceptions. But hubris is a very dangerous thing, and the Grimm-free lands of Terra are a very attractive target. The phrasing implies that "born from Dust" refers to where they, as a species, originally came from, and it's probably just unfounded legend anyway.

MrKaboom: Defensively, Aura seems to work a lot like a video game energy shield- it absorbs damage of any kind up to a certain point and then stops absorbing damage at all. While small arms would be mostly ineffective and small explosives marginally so, we can and will go bigger. The big problem is collateral damage- even a Small Diameter Bomb has a kill radius measured in metres. With that being said, you seem to be referring more to countries without those capabilities. In that case, it depends on numbers. Recall that Yang defeated every ISIS fighter she ran across, but was tired and knew she had to run rather than stay.


	24. Death of a Friend

This is a revised version of the story previously posted as Death of a Friend. If you've read that, you know what's coming. If not, you've probably figured it out by now already.

There may or may not be a normal update this Friday.

EXTRA SPECIAL DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is probably not entirely coincidental, but it is not a factual account and should not be taken as such.

* * *

**24: Death of a Friend**

_HVI deceased TOD __1634L COD TBD_

Special Agent Todd Costello mashed the send button harder than he should have and tossed his BlackBerry carelessly onto the table.

The SIG handgun he carried was a cold comfort holstered under his jacket. Like many FBI agents, he'd joined with the admirable goals of protecting the innocent, saving lives and catching criminals. It was quickly bogged down by tedium, pragmatism, and a cold hard dose of reality, but he still held on to that sliver of meaning.

The agent never knew the man he'd spent a week protecting. He'd read the file, and though the man's accomplishments sounded impressive, they meant little to him. Crucially, they gave him no idea why he was guarding him or what he was guarding him from. They'd briefed him on that, and he thought that it was some elaborate inter-agency prank before the goddamn _President_ walked in and asked for an update.

Realistically, he knew that there was nothing he could have done. He was a cop, not a doctor. He fought criminals and terrorists. Usually that meant chasing leads- more often than not a euphemism for paperwork. Once, that had meant putting a bullet through a rapist's head. His world was one where people were killed by other people, not a fucking allergic reaction. As the orderly wheeled the covered body out of the room, he still couldn't help but feel that he'd failed.

He sighed and rose from his chair. They would be announcing it soon, and his job was to make himself scarce before the shitstorm brewed up.

* * *

**10 days earlier**

"How much do we know?" Iverson asked as soon as the line connected, not waiting for an acknowledgement. He'd received an ominous message a minute earlier and needed to know exactly what was going on, immediately.

"Not much- our agent was a couple blocks away when it happened." The agent at the other end paused. "We know he's incapacitated, possibly a drug reaction... or a poisoning."

Iverson took a moment to think before replying, "Okay, we're treating this as an assassination attempt until we know more. I need you to increase security around the RT offices, increase your own security, and post a twenty-four hour guard on the HVI."

"We uh, we don't have the people to do that down here."

"Then bring some in. Bring in new people if you have to. Coordinate with this office and Washington."

"Will do."

Iverson continued, "Get samples and ship them off to Quantico for toxicology. Find out who treated him. We'll start looking into possible threats up here."

"Okay. How discreet?"

"Keep it discreet, but do not compromise security," Iverson replied after a moment. "You may inform his family if necessary. Otherwise, something vague about a terror threat. We'll have a full cover over to you within the hour."

"Okay. Got it."

"Keep us posted." The line disconnected.

"An assassination attempt?" Commander Watson asked after his superior hung up the phone. "Isn't that a bit paranoid?"

"It's our _job_ to be paranoid."

"You know, if there really is a threat out there, I'd prefer him to be at Bethesda," Watson suggested.

Ryan shook his head. "Can't. We don't have enough plausible reason to bring him there."

"I think the threat is fairly remote," Iverson allowed. "We need to look into it, of course, but for now, I think there are some people we need to inform and some information we need to get a hold of. Let's get to it."

* * *

"The news will be public shortly, but we thought you would like to know," the FBI agent finished.

"Uh, thank you, I guess," Ruby replied, hanging up the cordless phone.

"What is it, Rubes?" Yang asked from the couch, noting the concern in her sister's voice.

"Monty's in the hospital," she replied glumly.

"Oh," Yang replied in a similar tone.

"That's unfortunate," Blake said from behind her book.

Weiss crossed her arms. "So?"

"Weiss!" Ruby screeched.

"What? I don't really see how this is our concern."

"He kind of did help us get here. And he did create the show that is about us... boy that sounds awkward when you say it out loud."

"We should send a card!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed, getting excited again.

"Uh..."

"Come on, everyone, into your old outfits! We're going to send him the best get well card ever!"

"Truly her enthusiasm knows no bounds," Weiss half-grumbled.

"That's my sis!"

* * *

"As you know, security is established, tests have been sent off, and investigators are looking into the medical staff," Iverson said to the assembled agents and analysts. "In the meantime, we must assume the worst. If this is an assassination attempt, who'd want him dead?"

"My thinking is that someone is trying to get at our extraterrestrial friends." He strode over to a whiteboard and picked up a marker. "But who would that be?"

"Could be ISIS or an associated group, going after the Bride indirectly," Johnathan Ryan suggested. He reconsidered and shook his head. "It's not likely, though. They would have to make a lot of assumptions- some of them illogical and some simply wrong- to link him to the Bride."

"It's the wrong kind of attack," Commander Watson added. "You'd expect them to walk into the office with a bomb vest or a machine gun. They wouldn't go for poisoning. I don't think we can dismiss it entirely, but I just don't see it being extremists."

"What if it's not about the aliens at all? What about industrial sabotage? A competitor?"

"Sabotage what?" The naval officer shook his head. "We're talking about an animator who works for a tiny production house. This isn't fucking Lockheed Martin here! The dollars aren't big enough to bother."

"A rogue government agency?" Iverson suggested, then shook his head. "No, if it were the case, one of us would have heard something about it by now."

"What if they weren't rogue?" Ryan suggested. "If this was a planned government operation... but they'd be setting a dangerous new precedent, and for what? It would be one hell of an operation and what would they gain?"

"Angry fans, perhaps?" one of the analysts asked. "Or maybe just crazy ones? Someone wanted a certain pairing or something?"

Iverson cocked his head. "Again, generally not a poisoning, but it could be. We're looking into it."

"We've got to keep in mind the exceptional circumstances," Ryan pointed out. "We've got aliens on Earth. We know they don't have anything to do with it. That doesn't mean other actors do too."

"So, should we look at that angle, then? Someone who knows just enough to be dangerous?"

Iverson nodded. "Investigate every angle. I don't think there's more to this, but we need to know more."

Sam, Cliff, Isaac, Ben, and Jen gathered virtually, as they did almost every night. As students, they lead busy lives. They lived apart from each other, all with different schedules. Still, there were times when they were all free. Living in the information age meant that they could communicated instantly regardless of distance or time.

* * *

"So have you guys heard the news?" Isaac asked. Though his microphone was bad and his voice distorted, they could tell by the tone that it wasn't good news.

"Monty Oum, right?" Cliff half-asked.

"What about him?" Sam asked. The rest of the group could hear clicking through his microphone.

"He's in the hospital. That's pretty much all we know."

"Link?"

There was some clicking from Isaac's microphone, then a link to the Rooster Teeth website appeared in everyone's chat window.

Sam said quietly, "Well, shit. That's it? Anyone know more?"

"Well, I heard from an unconfirmed source that he's in a coma," Isaac said, sounding quite down.

"That's terrible," Jen said through Ben's microphone.

Cliff immediately asked, "And by unconfirmed source you mean Rubes?"

"Uh, maybe?"

"Well, shit," Sam said dismissively. It was bad news, but not really concerning to him. "So, who's up for League?"

* * *

It had been a sleepless week for Special Agent Michael O'Reilly. As soon as they had heard the news, he'd been dispatched to the severely understaffed Texas office. Then he'd screened files and personally briefed new agents on the situation while trying to run an actual investigation before suddenly being called back. The last twelve hours had been spent flying to Vancouver, being debriefed, then flying out to Washington to brief the National Security Advisor, something that should have been done days ago by someone else.

So now he was standing in a little-known corner of the White House, feeling like shit and looking the part, briefing the National Security Advisor on a matter that ultimately had little to do with national security.

It could have been worse, though. He could have had to brief the President.

"To clarify, to the best of your knowledge, it was not an assassination attempt?" Though she was trying hard to suppress it, O'Reilly could tell she was annoyed with him.

He nodded. "To be honest, we never put much stock in that, but until we could prove otherwise, we treated it as a possible assassination attempt. Better to be safe than sorry."

"Your suggestion is to relax security, but not remove it entirely?" the National Security Advisor confirmed. He had already laid out what he had planned.

"Mine and Iverson's," he replied, making it clear where it had come from.

"Okay," she replied. Her voice softened. "How's he doing?"

"Honestly, I don't know." O'Reilly was so busy with organizing everything that he only had a vague idea of his charge's actual condition.

* * *

The four girls and four guys sat together in the middle of the cafeteria, various lunches spread around them. Their idle chatter inevitably converged on the same topic.

"So... how's that animator guy doing?" Gavin broached.

"No news," Aaron told him. "A huge amount of support, though."

"Oh yeah!" Connor said. "There's lots of RWBY pictures. I started watching that show and I'm kind of sad I didn't see it earlier."

"I told you," Aaron muttered.

"Hey, did anyone notice that Ruby kind of looks like Ruby from the show and Blake is always wearing a hat and-"

"Connor?" his older brother warned.

"Yeah?"

"No. Just don't."

"But Thorvald thinks so, too-"

"And so does Aaron, but it doesn't make him any less wrong. Or crazy."

"Hey!"

"We're right here, you know," Yang reminded them.

"I still don't understand what the big deal is," Gavin groused. "I mean, it's some animator for some little company. None of us have met him and he's not even really famous-"

"Hey, remember when Robin Williams died and you started-"

Gavin raised his hands defensively. "Hey, that guys _is_ famous."

"So? You still didn't _know_ him."

"Okay, okay, point taken. But it's not like he's dead or anything. He probably just got in a car crash or something."

"I dunno, man, the announcement seemed pretty serious," Aaron replied. "He said they don't know if he'll ever recover."

"Okay, that is pretty grim," Gavin admitted. "But-"

Seeing everyone else glaring at him, he raised his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, I get it."

* * *

_HVI deceased TOD 1634L COD TBD_

"He's dead," Watson announced bluntly, his true feelings betrayed by the way he tossed the phone down.

The everpresent tension in the room was immediately replaced with a sense of loss and a sense of failure.

They had prepared for the possibility of a misplaced vengeance attack. They had prepared for the possibility of a psychotic fan with a gun. They had even prepared, or tried to prepare, for a sudden interdimensional Grimm attack.

They had not prepared for an allergic reaction. They had general plans for a medical emergency, but those were more concerned with preventing someone from putting a bullet in the patient than saving them from the medical condition itself. It was all they could do, and it was not enough.

They had failed, even though they could never have succeeded.

In their line of work, people sometimes died. Sometimes people they knew died. Sometimes it was a stray bullet or a smart bomb. Sometimes they disappeared and never showed up again. Sometimes they were executed by a hostile power. Usually it was someone who had no name or face on the other side of the world. Often it was someone labelled as the enemy, whether they were or not. Occasionally it was collateral, depicted as a number rather than a person.

But in a way, it was different this time. It was an innocent, one they had known perhaps too well, one that many in the room respected greatly. One they'd been charged to protect, whether the threat was there or not. One they ultimately failed, or at least seemed to have failed.

Death was something most of the people in the room had learned to live with. But they didn't have to like it. They'd never like it.

* * *

"I understand," Ruby sniffed.

"Are you sure you don't want to come down?"

She shook her head, even though she knew that the man on the other end couldn't see it. "No, that's okay, we don't want people to ask too many questions."

She hung up and slowly turned to her team, tears streaming down her face. "Guys, I have bad news. Monty... Monty's dead."

Silently, Yang wrapped her arm around her in a tight hug. She understood why her sister was crying. Ruby had a big heart, but there was a downside to it. Yang was feeling it too. But she never even knew the man, and she'd seen plenty of death much closer to her.

"It's a shame," Weiss said after a long silence. Even though she was a lot warmer than before, she still kept her words curt and controlled. "He worked hard and pursued his dreams. Not many can say they've done that."

"Even if it was a coincidence, I still feel somehow connected to him," Blake added. "We do owe him for getting us here. It's probably just romanticism... but I feel we owe him more."

"He was innocent, he made movies!" Ruby bawled. "He wasn't supposed to die, not for such a stupid reason!"

"People die for stupid reasons all the time."

She sniffed. "I know, sis, but it still stinks."

"So, are we going to make the best condolence card ever?" Yang asked her sister, slowly releasing her.

"Yeah," the crimsonette replied quietly.

* * *

"It's the same pub," Cliff remarked dryly as they took their seats in the dimly lit venue.

Isaac looked up. "Huh?"

"Remember that night when we ran into Ruby? When all this crazy shit started? We were coming home from here." He waved at the building for emphasis.

"Well, yeah, we always go to the same pub," Sam reminded them. "Quit being so melodramatic."

Ben shook his head. "This is the fifth time we've been here. Doesn't count as always."

Around them, most people were talking about the Super Bowl, with a few discussing the increase in American military spending or the election of the Syriza party in Greece. The five students all had a different event on their minds. Sensing that this group was in mourning, not celebration, the server was more subdued, asking quietly for their orders. Guinness. Budweiser. Martini, dry. Rum and coke, dark rum. Vodka, two shots-

Sam looked up in surprise. "What? I thought you didn't drink."

Cliff shook his head grimly. "Tonight I drink."

The server soon returned with their drinks. Sam took a quick swig of his Guinness. Ben took a slow drag from his Budweiser. Isaac sipped a few times on his Martini. Jen sipped her rum and coke, looked at it again, then drank half of it in one gulp. Cliff downed one shot of vodka and cringed.

"So... I'm just... what was he to us?" Sam turned to his friend on the left. "Ben?"

"I'm not really feeling anything."

"Ben!" his girlfriend snapped.

"Look... I'm sure he was a great guy. But I never knew him. I didn't even know of him until six months ago." He paused and stared at his beer contemplatively. "I know what you're feeling. But I can't say I've been feeling it."

"Well, that's a fucking horrible way to start things off," Cliff told him. "I guess I'll say my piece then."

He picked up the other shot, swished it around, then put it down again. "Monty... I expected himself to work himself to death. Even if he technically didn't, well, if that wasn't a complicating factor, I will eat this shot glass.

"But... I do admire his resolve... did admire his resolve. Sometimes I was a cynical bastard and I thought he had way more going for him. But he worked hard, and I looked at that whole can you match my resolve and I said yes I can. I don't think I ever did, but I tried. I guess I figure if I work hard things will work out, even if they don't. But maybe he got lucky. Maybe not so lucky."

Cliff smiled a thin, ironic smile. "Fuck, I don't know, I'm not good at this kind of shit."

Isaac shook his head mournfully. "Monty was awesome. I wanted to be like that- minus the dying part. That's like, my dream job. I want to work with those people, animate amazing stuff, mocap myself dancing just for the fun of it. That's something, something we all inspire to."

"Aspire." Cliff corrected.

"Whatever." Isaac took a long sip from his martini. "I wanted to meet him, I mean, I've seen him on the internet and we even had those emails- now that I think of it, he was there for us, wasn't he?- but I wanted to meet him some time. And that's... yeah. Shit."

"There's really not much I can say that other people haven't said," Jen stated quietly. "He was great. He was Monty. He was the one and only. He created RWBY. He helped us. He's gone. I never really knew much about him, but the more I learned, the more I respected him."

"I didn't really know him either," Sam admitted. "But he did help us, and he did do a lot of awesome stuff. So now I'm kind of... disappointed, I guess, that I never did."

They raised their now half-empty glasses and clinked them together. "To Monty."

* * *

I know I've replied to some of you via PM. I'm doing it again so others can see the gist of the conversation.

Krazyfanfiction1: One of the headcanons is that Remnans are much more open in regards to sexual orientation. A much greater proportion of people swing both ways or rather will swing either way depending on who they get close to. The outside-of-universe, Doylist explanation is that I read a lot of ship fics and wanted to make them plausible in Emergence. The in-universe, Watsonian explanation is that because the power of love is a real thing on Remnant (emotions, Grimm, Aura, etc), being able to find love with a greater range of possible partners is actually adaptive, even with the reduction in offspring taken into account.

GreatWyrmGold: They're starting with the advent of gunpowder in Europe, with a focus toward the 19th century and later- blame Ruby not paying attention and her awkward phrasing. I thought about it, and yes, they have very different standards. Regarding the nuke question, I think the estimates are for ending meaningful civilization on Earth, not mass scattering the planet.

Deathwhisperer:

1\. Keep a routine, but this might not be doable or work for everyone. Prioritize and don't try to take on too much.

2\. I'm going somewhere with this and there is an overarching plot. The main plot will resume with Convergence in June or July.

3\. Realism is a huge priority for Emergence. Yes, there are characters with soul magic superpowers, but I took that as the one fantastical element, and then asked, okay, what would really happen if they ended up in the real world. I think keeping that question in the back of my mind is really important, and also the distinction between _what could happen_ and _what would really happen_.

ODST110: They exist. I'm not saying who, not yet.

mastermind: It might not even be that long, depending on their will to fight and where the portals are. Precision strikes would destroy their military capability and strategic bombing would decimate their industrial capability and possibly result in their destruction via Grimm.

Darn: The Girl With Glasses is a bit weird. She was making a distasteful RWBY joke, but it turns out that her mom really is dead to the best of her knowledge, because she actually is Ruby.

coolshades45: With seven billion people, it would be pretty hard to genocide on Terrans. An attempt would probably provoke a massive countervalue strike by some nations.

MrKaboom: She's better, but still not perfect. I would agree that our terrorists are more brutal than Remnan ones. I think it's telling that the new, brutal White Fang didn't care about killing innocents on the train, whereas many of our terrorist groups would make that their _objective_.


	25. Love and Loss

A shorter bridge chapter. This wasn't planned, but I decided to add it in when I realized the drastic shift in tone putting the Valentine's chapter right after the last would create.

We'll see how the Valentine's special goes. There are good reasons why I shouldn't write ship fics. Then again...

Coming in Convergence: Ships, some of which may be sunk, and perhaps a vampire or two to go with them.

Oh, and a reminder: This story has a TVTropes page. Google "rwby emergence tvtropes" without the quotes to find it.

* * *

**25: Love and Loss**

"So, Yang, have you heard about that movie that came out last week? Jupiter Ascending?" Gavin asked, sidling up to the blonde girl by her locker. _Stay cool..._

She nodded, shutting the metal door. "Yeah, that's the sci-fi from those guys who made The Matrix, right?"

"Yeah. This one's about some alien chick or something," Gavin explained. "It looks pretty cool, anyway."

He continued quickly. "Anyway, I was going to see it with the guys, but they bailed, so, I was wondering if maybe you'd want to see it with me?"

She giggled. "Are you asking me out?"

"Uh..." Damn it, she was far from the first girl he'd dated, and she wasn't even the first weird one! So why was it so awkward? "Maybe?"

He took a deep breath. "Will you go out with me?"

"Sure, why not," Yang replied after a moment of thinking. Good idea or bad, she had nothing better to do. It was time to get back into the game. She laughed. "You're so awkward. Were you afraid I would say no or something?"

He sidestepped the question. "Well, no, but-"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "But?"

"I dunno, you're kind of different from the girls I've dated," Gavin admitted. "Not that it's bad or anything!"

"Well, maybe it's time for a change." The bell rang, signalling the start of the classes they were late for. Yang slung her backpack, stepped away, and winked at him. "See you on Saturday."

* * *

"Yeah, I just really don't like Valentine's Day," Connor said, eyes downcast.

"Why not?"

"It's the one day of the year that's supposed to be all about love and sweethearts and stuff, and I thought this year would be different, but..." He shrugged. "I still can't get a girlfriend to save my life."

He expected a laugh, or an insult, or at best a half-hearted apology. Instead, he heard something he never thought he'd hear. "Do you want me to be your date?"

Did he? She wasn't the most beautiful girl in the school, but she was still pretty, even if she looked a bit weird. And she was a very nice girl who stood up for him. On the other hand, she could probably have any of the guys in their grade.

It took him a moment to process that he'd just been asked out by a girl way too good for him. "No, that's okay, you don't have to..."

"But do you _want_ me to be your date?"

"I guess-"

"I can't hear you!" Ruby joked.

"Yes?" It was unsure and came out more like a question.

"You'll actually go out with me?"

"Of course, Connor!"

"Why?"

"You'll be sad if you spend the day alone. And I don't want you to be sad. Because then I'll be sad."

"You know, Ruby, you're the first girl who cared whether I was happy." That sounded pathetic and he knew it. He also knew that sounding pathetic was really, really unattractive.

So it was surprising when the girl squeezed him into a tight hug. She was warm, soft, and smelled faintly of roses. "Nobody should be alone if they don't want to. I know you're smart and sweet and those girls don't see it and it's really unfortunate."

He knew it was a pity date, but he'd take it.

* * *

"So, Ruby and Yang both have dates," Weiss mused to Blake. The girls in question were in the kitchen failing to make dinner, leaving the monochrome duo alone in the living room. Behind them, the TV newscaster droned on about a daring rescue mission in Syria.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying something?"

She shook her head. "No, just making an observation. I wasn't really expecting them to make that kind of connection."

"We could be here for a very long time, Weiss, maybe the rest of our lives. It's bound to happen at some point."

"I know," Weiss admitted. "It just doesn't seem right."

The faunus girl raised an eyebrow. "Are you jealous?"

"No," Weiss snapped with an icy glare.

"So, no White Rose? No Freezerburn?" Blake suggested with a smirk. "Monochrome, then?"

Weiss turned red. "What- no! What the hell, Blake?"

"I'm just fucking with you, Weiss," the black-haired girl dismissed after she had stopped laughing.

"Picking up the local vernacular?"

Blake chuckled at that. "You're worse."

There was an awkward silence between the two, which Weiss eventually interrupted. "We've changed, haven't we?"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"I'm agreeing with you, Weiss," Blake replied. "Not too long ago, we wouldn't be having this sort of conversation. You were too wound-up, and so was I."

"Yang's right, you know," Weiss said. "It's easy to settle in, to just go with the flow. To take the path of least resistance."

She paused. "What if there is a way back? Can we go back?"

"Well, if there is a way back-"

"You know what I mean."

Blake shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know. If we're here long enough, we could build new lives, forget who we were. I don't think the question is if we can go back, though. What we've learned, what we are, that's for life. The question is whether we'll want to or not."

"Do you?"

"Right now?"

"Yes."

The faunus pondered it for a moment. "I have. Torchwick, the White Fang, Adam, they're probably still out there, doing whatever the hell it is they're up to."

"You still worry about that, huh?"

"I try not to let it get to me, because I can't do anything about it, but yes," Blake admitted. "It still bothers me."

"Well, if it's any comfort, I have my own concerns, too."

She raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't care about the company anymore."

Weiss nodded. "I don't. But I do care about Winter. As far as she knows, I'm dead. She's not allowed to show any grief. She's now the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I know she's capable, but... I always hoped she would have a better life."

She finished the last sentence with a sad tone that Blake rarely heard from the former heiress. "I'm sure she'll do fine."

"I hope so," Weiss replied quietly. "I left some stuff for her, but I don't know if it'll help or-"

"Dinner's ready!" A boisterous voice shouted, interrupting their conversation. "And we didn't start a fire this time!"

* * *

GreatWyrmGold: You say "also Monty's death", what else are you referring to?

anonymous: Can you provide a source for that? Although it would not surprise me if they issued such a statement, this is the first I've heard of it, and in any case I would like to see the exact text.

MrKaboom: It's ambiguous whether it's actually the White Fang calling the shots or not. They could be trying to turn public opinion against the White Fang, although their primary goal seems to be to get the Atlesian military involved. And... you're right about the hybrids, sort of.


	26. Be My Valentine

Apologies in advance if this turned out terrible. Shipping is new to me.

* * *

**26: Be My Valentine**

"You came!" Connor called when Ruby sat down beside him in the small ice cream shop.

"Well, yeah, I said I would, didn't I?" Ruby reminded him.

Their ice cream arrived soon after. Connor's was a reasonable hot fudge sundae, but Ruby's was a giant pile of chocolate, strawberries, cookies, and sugary sauce.

"You're cute," Connor told his date.

"_You're_ cute," Ruby replied. "And you've got some ice cream on your nose."

They left the shop smiling and holding hands. "So, what else are we gonna do today?"

* * *

"I can't believe my sister is going on her first date!" Yang said cheerfully, plunking herself down on the couch and almost launching the other two girls off it.

"You seem awfully excited about this," Blake pointed out.

"Ruby wasn't good at making friends back on Remnant," Yang admitted. "She was kind of weird even at Signal. Here, she's positively a freak."

"That's kind of a mean thing to say about your sister, isn't it?"

"We're _all_ freaks, Weiss."

"Don't you have your own date to get ready for?" the annoyed white-haired girl pointed out.

Yang shook her head. "Nah, it's not for three hours. It doesn't take me _that_ long."

She removed what looked like a DVD case from... somewhere and waved it in front of her teammates. "Now, since we've got nothing better to do, I borrowed this game from a friend."

Weiss glared at it in disdain. "Halo 4? Is that another first-person shooter?"

* * *

"I'm so happy you asked me on this date," Connor said to Ruby, their hands now firmly intertwined. "I mean, you could have had anybody-"

"I don't think so, Connor," she replied sadly.

"Why not? You're fantastic!" he replied, waving his free arm. "You're smart, you're strong, you're good with-"

"I'm kind of a weird girl, Connor," she said sadly. "I hear people talking about me, saying all kinds of bad things. Those aren't things I'm supposed to be, or something."

"Oh," he replied. "Do you ever wish you were... normal?"

She shook her head vigorously. "Of course not! We're all different and we're all who we are. I just wish people would accept that better."

"Me too." He paused. "I still think you're great."

Ruby smiled. "I'm glad you think so. As long as the people I care about like me, I'm happy."

* * *

Gavin laughed as he left the restaurant with Yang. "Of all the fancy restaurants we could have gone to, you chose this?"

"Didn't like Pizza Hut?" Yang asked, worried.

"I just thought you'd want something fancier, that's all," Gavin assured her.

"I'm not exactly a classy girl, Gavin." She admitted. "I like short shorts, not long frilly dresses. And I like greasy fast food more than weird fancy food."

"I am one hundred percent okay with that." In fact, that was probably- maybe- what made her so attractive. All the hotness without the bitchyness. "Still, I thought you'd want some sappy chick flick or something."

Yang countered. "Girl on the poster, romance subplot... this is totally a chick flick."

"It is _not_ a chick flick."

"It's not a _total_ chick flick."

"Let's just wait and see," Gavin said diplomatically.

As they headed toward the ticket booth, Yang agreed, "That's a good idea."

* * *

A white-haired heiress and a black cat girl sat in front of a flat-screen TV, controllers in hand, utterly transfixed. Yang had long since left to go on her own date, but Weiss and Blake kept playing, barely noticing that the blonde was no longer with them.

"This game is so stupid," Weiss moaned. On-screen, her character died yet again. "Damn it!"

"Ready to give up?" Blake asked. She flicked the right analogue stick, spinning her character around to headshot another alien.

"No. Never." Weiss gritted her teeth, ignoring her terrible score as she respawned. _This time..._

* * *

"Hey, Yang," Gavin suddenly said as they left the theatre.

"Yeah?"

"Are you secretly an alien princess?"

"Of course not."

"What if, like, you just don't know it yet?" Gavin suggested, chuckling. "God, I sound like Aaron when I say that."

"Well, not a _princess_," she replied with a laugh. "I'm more like Caine. Badass alien warrior."

"Genetically engineered?"

"Nope." She motioned to her well-endowed body. "This is all natural, baby."

"Even the hair?"

"Uh-huh."

"This was nice," Yang admitted. "I'll admit, there's more to you than I thought."

"I could say the same thing about you," Gavin replied. "It's getting dark. Do you need a ride home?"

"It's okay," she dismissed. "Badass alien warrior, remember?"

They shared one last laugh as she waved from across the parking lot. "Alright. See you Monday."

"Yeah."

* * *

FOODninja-321: Probably about 10 more, but it could be more or less depending on time constraints.

animal56: Vicki is not supposed to be a lesbian. That's not to say Weiss/Vicki is right out, but I didn't intend to write her that way.

Guest7: There are some mythological and historical figures that sound a lot like Remnans, aren't there? And they speak the same language as us, too...

mastermind: It's the multiverse thing. All possibilities are assumed to exist in some universe somewhere, and that includes everything fictional on Earth. The act of creating RWBY did not create that universe, but it lines up with one of the universes in the multiverse. That's a bit of a simplification, but basically the gist of it.

GreatWyrmGold: Weiss has really loosened up, and I wanted to show that.

coolshades45: Removing her ears would be akin to self-mutilation, and she would really prefer not to do so if she can avoid it. Bullet resistant is a relative thing. Weaker Grimm can be taken down with hunting rifles, bigger and tougher Grimm require more hits, more kinetic energy, or penetrating weapons.

Little Can: All of them are understandably appalled, but to different degrees. Blake is the one who looks at it the most, and it scares the hell out of her. She realizes that this could have happened to the Faunus if they'd gone a bit farther, and it could still happen.

themetaduck: I think a lot of the complacency here is reflective of myself, both in regards to this fic and life in general. When I started writing this story, I had a lot of big stuff planned for it, but because of various things it slowly turned into a sort of grindy, bogged-down story with not a lot happening. I'm trying to reverse that trend and there will be more eventful chapters coming up.

No, it's not a joke, that was the real chapter. I had some good ideas for this chapter, but I just couldn't get them to come together. Coming up: one transition chapter, then a classy upscale party. Those ones WILL be better.


	27. A Birthday Offer

A very early short chapter to make up for the awful last chapter. Those You Leave Behind may be delayed slightly because of this, but I'll try to get it out on schedule.

* * *

**27: A Birthday Offer**

"So, Blake, Ice Queen, are you jealous?" Yang asked, drowning her pancakes in maple syrup.

"About what?" a half-asleep Blake asked. She pushed dry Frosted Flakes around in her bowl.

"About our dates, duh!"

"Not particularly."

"No."

"Aren't you at least curious?"

"Slightly," Blake admitted with a sigh.

"It was fun. Not my first date, not my best date, but it's been a while. And it _is_ different here," Yang reflected. "I'm still not sure about the whole thing, but Gavin's a pretty nice guy. There's a lot more to him than it looks."

Weiss asked her. "So, are you a thing now?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. If the weather's nice, we'll be going on another date. Have to wait and see, I guess."

Weiss turned to her partner. "What about you, Ruby?"

"We had ice cream!" the immature crimsonette said excitedly, before launching into a visceral description of the ridiculously unhealthy snack she had consumed.

Realizing that Ruby was just going to describe what she ate, the heiress idly glanced at the calendar on her phone. "Huh. Looks like my birthday is coming."

Ruby had stopped babbling and was beside her in an instant. "Your birthday is coming?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly. They'd picked their fictional birthdates based on a best-guess approximation of their real ones, but it wasn't a very good guess. "I think it's soon, but I don't know."

"Well, we have to celebrate your birthday some time," Yang told her teammate. "And since we don't know when it should actually be, that day is as good as any."

"Oh! We have to get you presents, and a cake, and a nice dinner or something, and candles-"

"Ruby," the heiress interrupted. "No."

"I guess you want something fancier? We can't really-"

"No, not really. Don't worry about my birthday," Weiss told them, half-lying. "We don't have to do anything. It's not even my real birthday."

Ruby muttered something about being a spoilsport.

* * *

Titration, Weiss admitted to her self, was far less interesting and far more monotonous than its name would suggest. Although she had studied chemistry on Remnant, and it was often tedious, she had never been forced to do anything _this_ boring.

"I heard your birthday is coming up," Vicki mentioned casually, observing her lab partner drip solution into the flask.

Her head snapped up and she glared at the other girl. "How do you know that."

Vicki raised her hands defensively. "I heard that Ruby girl shouting about it at lunch."

_Of course you did._ "I see."

"Have any plans for your birthday?" Vicki asked. "A nice elegant gathering would seem to suit you."

"Not anymore." Which was both actually true and consistent with her cover story. Anna Weiss was the last orphaned child of the last members of a wealthy family. Ruby had described it, rather childishly, as "being like Batman." She'd replied that it was nothing like Batman.

"You know, we could host a party for you," Vicki offered.

Weiss was sure there was some ulterior motive- it wasn't the first time she had heard that phrasing. "What's in it for you?"

"Nothing, I'm just trying to be nice," the preppy girl replied defensively. "Okay, okay, I'm curious about you. And maybe some other people too."

"I knew it."

Vicki smiled. "Come on, it'll be fun. Really."

"Hmm... no."

"You can bring your friends. I think _they'll_ enjoy it."

The thought of Yang at anything resembling a classy party was amusing, even if it was also a terrible idea. And she didn't think the party would actually be all that classy. "I'll... think about it."

"Great... damn it! Too much acid, Anna!"

Weiss looked at the swirling purple liquid, at her worksheet, and at the clock. She sighed. "Let's just fudge the numbers and call it done."

* * *

"It'll be fun, Weiss!" Ruby encouraged immediately after Weiss told her about the party.

She protested, "But I wanted to..."

Yang leaned uncomfortably close. "But you wanted to?"

"I wanted to spend my birthday with you," she admitted. "I don't care that it's not in a mansion and there won't be an expensive dinner. I just wanted to have a nice... simple birthday with you guys."

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Ruby said happily, enveloping her in a bone crushing hug. "You did want to celebrate after all!"

"Yeah... celebrate." Her fingers traced circles. "It just sounds too similar to what I had before, and birthdays were hardly a celebration. Just another chance to show off. I know it's not the same, but, well, they're not exactly good memories, okay?"

Ruby turned serious, but continued to squeeze her partner. "We could be here a while, Weiss. You should get to know other people and do stuff outside the team."

"Besides, it's not like we're going away or anything," Yang reminded her. "You'll just have to, I dunno, share your time. It'll be fun."

"It would be an interesting experience," Blake added, a book in her hands. "You did want to learn about the local culture. This is the local culture."

"Uh..."

"If you want, we can have a special dinner or something the night before," Ruby told her partner.

Weiss smiled back. "I'd like that."

"So, are we going?" Blake asked, glancing above her book.

"Yes," Weiss said finally. She looked over her teammates. "We'll have to go shopping first, though. I want my company to have _some_ degree of class."


	28. The Princess and the Pretenders

A primarily Weiss-centric chapter. I have no idea how realistic any of this is.

More author's notes at the end.

* * *

**28: The Princess and the Pretenders**

"Weiss," Ruby whined for what seemed like the thousandth time. She tugged at the collar of her partially strapless red dress. "Why do I have to wear this?"

"Because you'd be literally the _only_ girl in a suit here," the heiress snapped.

"So?"

"Just be happy I didn't make you wear heels," Weiss reminded her partner. Although she had ostensibly agreed to the younger girl's choice of flats because she had so much trouble with heels, the fact that they would have made her significantly taller than herself was a contributing factor.

She looked over her charge. Ruby looked uncomfortable, but she looked good, so it was fine. Blake seemed to hiding in her purple and black dress somehow and she would admit Yang's body-hugging outfit made her jealous. Satisfied, she rapped on the solid wood door with the attached brass knocker.

Weiss supposed this was considered impressive for Earth, but it didn't hold a candle to the Schnee manor. The house- she hesitated to call it a mansion and it certainly wasn't a castle- was much larger than their own government-provided abode, but much smaller than the ones she was once used to.

"Welcome to your birthday party, Anna!" Vicki greeted with a broad smile, leading them inside. "You look great!"

"Thank you, Vicki," the heiress replied with a smile her teammates could tell was forced.

"Relax, Weiss," Ruby whispered to her partner, giving her a comforting hand on the shoulder. "It's _your_ night. Have fun."

The local girl led them through the arched foyer and into the main hall where the party was taking place. It was a large open space that opened through sliding glass doors to the patio and the pool beyond. Buffet tables were laid out, still mostly covered in food. A few dozen people, mostly girls but a few sharp-dressed guys, milled around with drinks in hand. Surprisingly, popular music blared from a stereo system at the far end of the room. Even more surprisingly, there were no visible guards or chaperones watching.

"So, what do you think?" Vicki asked, gesturing to the area around them.

_It's either a peasant party masquerading as a proper one, or a normal party masquerading as an expensive one_, the former heiress thought. "It's pleasant. The architecture is inviting, and the food is well-served."

The other girl rolled her eyes. "Come on, really, what do you think?"

Yang chimed in. "Nice beats. EDM?"

Ruby was confused. "Electrical discharge machining?"

"Electronic Dance Music," Vicki corrected. "And yes. Obviously."

"It seems rather out of place, does it not?"

She turned to the birthday girl, frowning. "You don't like it?"

Weiss thought about it, pausing to listen to the synthetic song.. "No. Actually, I do."

Vicki clinked a fork against her glass, the heiress cringing at the rather inelegant way she did it. "Excuse me, everyone. Anna is here. May we have a toast to the birthday girl?"

"Happy birthday, Anna!" a chorus of voices slurred, glasses raised.

"Thank you, everyone," Weiss replied to nobody in particular, voice smooth.

Immediately after, Vicki added, excited, "Alright, now we can really get this party started!"

* * *

"I feel so awkward," Ruby admitted to her sister as her partner was dragged away. "Everyone here is older. And richer."

"Just act natural, it'll be fine," Yang replied. "Besides, weren't you just telling Weiss to have fun?"

"Yeah, but Weiss is good at socialating." She poked her index fingers together. "And it's easier to say it, but harder to do it... Yang?"

She turned around and realized that her sister had sneaked away, dragging Blake with her and leaving her awkwardly beside the punch bowl.

"Not really the party type, are you?" a dark-skinned girl asked, shuffling up beside her.

"Nope."

They stood in awkward silence. The whole situation felt vaguely familiar to her.

* * *

"So you come from a wealthy family, Anna?" Irene asked, sipping from a glass of something vaguely resembling champagne.

Weiss nodded, leaving her own fluted glass untouched. "That's correct."

"And did they really-"

"Yes. They died," she replied bluntly.

"So..." Irene asked awkwardly. "Do you have an inheritance or something?"

She shook her head and recited- delivered- the "No. I'm not allowed to have it yet, and I'm not sure if there's much left anyway. The legal situation is a mess."

"So you're from a rich family, who died, but you're a ward of the state. There was nobody to take you in?"

Weiss nodded. "Yes. My parents were the last of the line."

"No way, that's like totally Bruce Wayne's origin story," another girl, a blonde she didn't remember the name of, dismissed. "You're not serious, are you?"

"I am absolutely serious." She was actually _lying_, but she was still _serious_.

"Oh..."

"Uh..."

"I'm sorry..."

Irene broke the awkward silence. "What about those girls you brought? Your friends?"

"I live with them." She was amazed at how easy reciting her story had become. "But, yes. They were difficult at first, but we've bonded since then. They're really good people."

"Why does the black-haired one wear a hat all the time?" the blonde asked.

Again, a prepared and practised lie. In a way, she was putting on a show just like she had in the past, but this show was a _lot_ more interesting. "If you want to know, ask her. I wouldn't recommend it, though."

Irene queried suddenly, "What are they like?"

Talking about her teammates was fairly easy. She could be mostly honest, just omitting a few of the most suspicious and strange parts. She waxed eloquently,

"Well, there's Ruby. She's energetic, childish, likes the colour red and sweet things, and she's actually a lot smarter and more mature than she looks... but only when she chooses to be. A pain in the ass, if you excuse the expression, but a lovable pain in the ass.

"There's Bella- Blake since Twilight came out. She's quiet, doesn't make trouble, mostly just reads books and wastes a lot of time on the Internet. She's weird, but doesn't really fit into any of the cliques. I don't know, but I think she had a very rough childhood.

"And Linda- or Yang, because of her _fabulous hair_. She's very strong, physically and emotionally. She seems kind of shallow on the surface, but she's actually a very deeply caring person. Oh, and she's Ruby's sister- well, they say they're sisters, anyway. Maybe they're not biologically sisters, but they love each other like sisters."

"I feel like that's from something, too," the blonde girl mentioned. Weiss glared at her.

She raised her hands. "Not saying that you're lying, or they're lying, just... it's an interesting coincidence, that's all."

"It must have been hard going from, well, you know..." Daffodil said, trying to bring the conversation out of the awkward corner.

"Honestly, I don't really remember," Weiss replied, examining her glass. "I don't know if I've said this, but this all happened when I was very young."

She paused and looked up. "Well, I don't want to ruin my own party. I'm willing to cut the cake now, if it's all ready."

* * *

"I don't think Vicki's family is as well off as we thought," Blake commented, walking up to her partner.

Yang raised an eyebrow and a glass. "Were you sneaking around again?"

She shook her head. "No, just examining the room. I've seen ultra-wealthy, and this is not it."

"Maybe it's a cultural thing?"

"I don't think so. I've seen the elite on TV and on the Internet, and I have a good idea of what they look like," Blake said. "It's just like on Remnant. They want to flaunt their wealth and power. This... it's like they want to appear bigger than they really are. And it's not even that impressive."

"Should we tell Weiss?" Yang asked after a moment of thought.

"No," Blake replied with a shake of her head and a slight smile. "I think she already knows."

"Well, they're still pretty well off, and it's not like it matters," Yang reflected. "It's a nice way to celebrate Weiss's birthday. _That's_ what matters."

* * *

"Wow, you're actually going to try it?" Vicki asked, surprised. "You're not going to ask for a knife?"

Weiss gave the rapier an experimental twirl. The blade wasn't terribly impressive, but it was sharp enough, and the balance was okay. "I do fencing. Occasionally."

"Have you ever cut a cake with a sword?"

"Once."

"Okay then." Vicki stepped back to what she figured was a safe distance. "I'll leave you to it."

"I thought you're only supposed to do this for weddings?" one of the girls in the gathering audience called.

Another looked away from her recording phone to warn, "Shut up, I want to see her try it."

Weiss took a deep breath, then brought the rapier around and through the cake in an elegant twirl. She thought of it as a target, one that she had to deliver precise strikes to in order to kill. The blade sung in her hands as she divided the rectangular cake into smaller and smaller segments.

With no sheath in sight, she laid the sword beside the cake and took a piece for herself.

"Wow," someone said, and the crowd began to applaud.

"That was amazing," Daffodil gushed. "I didn't know you could do anything like that!"

"Yeah, that was pretty cool," the guy attached to her arm agreed.

"It was-"

She was nearly knocked over mid-sentence by an excited red mass. "WeissWeissWeiss that was amazing why don't you-"

"Ruby!" she said, prying the other girl off. "Calm down."

Vicki blinked and asked, "Are you two like lesbian-"

The heiress glared at her. "No. She's just very clingy."

"But it was really cool," Ruby insisted.

"It was nothing," she replied, grabbing another piece of cake in the hopes of distracting her partner with it. "Here, have some cake."

"Cake!"

"She's certainly... different," Vicki commented after the crimsonette left to accost her sister.

Weiss sighed. "Yes. In a good way and a bad way."

* * *

The party wound down quickly after cake, with people starting to go home, muttering excuses or not even bothering. Weiss felt obliged to stay until everyone else had left, then gave Vicki her thanks and walked out the door with her team.

"So, did you enjoy partying with the other rich people?" Ruby asked as they left.

"They're not that rich," Weiss told her. "But... surprisingly, I did. I thought they were pretentious bitches."

"They're not?" Yang half-joked.

"Pretentious, yes, but they're not bad people," Weiss admitted. "I wonder if it's true that wealth really does turn you into a monster."

"I think it only does if you let yourself get caught up in it," Blake opined. "Don't get caught up in it."

"Well, that won't be a problem now, will it?"

Ruby whined, "Why are we having this discussion now?"

"You're right, sis," Yang said. "Let's just go home and crash."

"Home?"

"For now."

* * *

I'm actually very surprised at the generally positive response to the shipping chapter. I feel that there was a lot left out that should have been in there and that it was generally a hackjob. Let me be clear about this: I wrote that chapter as quickly as possible because I really didn't want to write it. So I'm quite surprised, but I guess it should be a pleasant surprised.

_Little Can_: The Faunus could have been victims of a genocide. The human population already tried to deport them all to Menagerie. That would be ethnic cleansing and maybe even genocide if the island was unlivable and they knew deportation was a death sentence. What if they'd gone even farther and actually started rounding up Faunus and forcing them into death camps? Blake thinks they came very close to doing something like that.

_DERPDERPDERPDERP_: For many reasons, no.

_coolshades45_: I've tried to portray her as a lot looser, generally, but still weighed down by the influences of her past.

_some guy_: There have already been time skips, although none are explicitly stated. This chapter took place mid-late February and the next one will be either just before or during spring break.

Aliens Among Us will end at the end of the in-universe school year, and the true sequel to Emergence will follow directly after. It will be released as either Emergence: Convergence or simply Convergence. Yes, the name is meaningful. It was scheduled for a June release but it might have to wait until July to give me more time to do a decent job on both the end of Aliens Among Us and the opening chapters of Convergence. There will be three acts in total. I'm not sure about the length- the first one will be fairly short, the next one might be shorter or longer, and the last one will be fairly sizable.


	29. The Weather's Getting Warm

Mostly a bridge chapter. The next one will have more in it. There's quite a bit planned for the next mini-arc; I'm not sure if it'll all fit in one chapter or not.

I know there's going to be controversy over one aspect of their characterization.

* * *

**29: The Weather's Getting Warm**

"Wow, spring break already," Yang commented as they left the school. "What's that, two months left?"

"Close to three," Blake corrected.

"It feels strange," Weiss commented. "Sometimes I feel like I'm still on Remnant time. As if I know it shouldn't be spring."

"Do you know what season it should be?"

"No, it just feels wrong, but I can't place it," Weiss replied. "I know, it's not very useful."

"So, how are everyone's classes going?" Ruby asked, ever the dutiful team leader.

Her sister was the first to answer. "Well, military history is fine, obviously. Team sports finally has some girls in it- basketball. Still a weird class, but whatever. I'm still pretty bad at guitar- still disappointed you didn't take music, Weiss. Physics is fine-"

"You're barely passing," Blake corrected.

She waved it off. "Seventy percent is not barely passing. The pass line is fifty here."

"Physics is really hard," Ruby complained. "There's lots of math."

"You're supposed to be finished math 10, not do it at the same time," her partner reminded her. She joked, "You're just lucky you have one of the finest mathematicians in the school to help you."

"Wow."

"What was that, Blake?"

"I never thought I'd hear you say something like that without an air of arrogance."

She examined her nails. "A new Weiss for a new world... _peasant_."

They laughed. Ruby then asked her, "What about you, Weiss? How are your classes?"

"I have straight A's," she replied. "Some things don't change."

"But are you _enjoying_ them?"

She allowed. "Both history courses are fascinating."

"_Weiss_," the crimsonette whined. "What's your favourite class, at least?"

"Okay, fine," she huffed. "I like contemporary history. That's my favourite class."

"Blake, you've been awfully quiet."

"Oh? I have mostly the same courses as Weiss." She paused, then added, "But I'm doing better in military history. Ninety-seven on the last test, Weiss."

"Ninety-six is basically the same!" she said defensively, before realizing something. "You know, it's strange. I used to have to get a hundred percent all the time, or suffer the consequences. Now people are congratulating me on getting over ninety."

"That's not strange, Weiss, that's normal," Yang reminded her. "Maybe eighty on Remnant, sixty or seventy here and you're doing good."

"Well, we can forget about all this for the next two weeks," Ruby announced. "Tomorrow, we shall- actually, we're probably just going to sleep in. But Sunday or maybe Monday, we're going out as a team to enjoy ourselves."

* * *

"A literal walk in the park," Weiss remarked idly.

It was overcast and the ground was damp, but it was not currently raining. People were out and about in the park, mostly teenagers and families because of the holiday. A couple kissed on a bench, people gave a begging homeless man a wide berth, and a kid played with his dog.

On Ruby's urging, they'd swapped colours. Dark jeans, black boots that came to mid calf, and a red leather jacket clashed with Weiss's white hair. Of course, her partner looked equally ridiculous with her white snowflake hoodie. Blake's yellow and black outfit looked surprisingly natural. Yang had commented that it made her look like a bumblebee, to which the faunus had replied that she did too, in addition to looking like "some biker chick nobody would want to piss off."

The heiress turned to Ruby. "Let me guess, you didn't have any better ideas."

She shirked cutely. "Ehehehehe..."

"Well, it'll be nice to just relax for once," she replied, surprising her partner. "So, what are your plans for the holiday?"

"We're doing different stuff, not as a team?" Ruby asked.

"Aren't you the one who told me to get out there and have fun with other people?"

"Yeah, I know, it's just..."

"Weird?" Yang suggested.

"Yeah."

"We had to stay close to survive," Blake mused. "Both when we were on Remnant and people were actually trying to kill us, then when we first came here and had no idea what we were doing. I think that even though we're building new relationships, we'll always come back to each other. Because at the end of the day, we share things that nobody in this world will even understand."

"Thank you, Blake, for reminding us," Yang said, edging uncomfortably close to her partner, "how deep you are."

"I guess that's- wait." Blake paused. "Was that double entendre intentional?"

"Uh, maybe," she replied with a shrug. "What things?"

"Grimm," Ruby answered. "Sometimes I still have to remind myself that there aren't any walls around Vancouver and that it's okay because there's nothing out there to eat people."

"Bears," her sister suggested.

She waved it off. "I could take a dozen, easy."

"You also have an Aura and a Semblance," Weiss pointed out. "Unlike almost everyone else on this planet."

"Feels weird that we're like superheroes here," she agreed. "I mean, I was good, really good, but there were tons of people above me."

"It feels strange to all of us," Yang added. "I hope I'll get to use that again some day, but at the same time I don't, because I'm afraid of what it means."

"Killing people?" Ruby asked, receiving a nod in reply. "You could become a firefighter or something."

She managed a laugh at that. "Yang Xiao Long, human torch and firefighter. A certain irony to it. I am fireproof, though."

The blonde continued to muse. "The first time was hard, but after that I never really thought about it after that. They were just nameless things in a world where people die all the time. It helped that they went down and just kind of stayed still, like maybe they're dead, maybe not. Watching that Syrian kid die..."

Abruptly, she turned to the heiress. "What about you, Weiss?"

"Have I killed anyone?" Like the other three, she was feeling uncomfortable and awkward about the topic.

Yang's contemplative expression turned to a light smile. "No, I've had _way_ too much of that dark stuff already. What's different to you?"

"I feel less pressure here," the heiress replied, focusing on what she was trying to say and not what they'd just talked about. Yang may have been right, but it still wasn't easy to consider, especially under her circumstances. "

"No, it's not silly," Ruby agreed. "All we have to do is keep one secret- okay, it's a pretty big secret- and that's because we agreed to. I'm a child prodigy, Weiss. I had to prove that I was good enough. But now? Nope."

"What about you, Blake? You've been quiet."

"I'm not sure I identify as Faunus anymore," Blake responded.

"What?"

"Us and them used to mean Faunus and humans," she explained. "I have nothing against you guys, but not everyone is so understanding. Now, us is Remnan and them is Terran."

"But aren't the people here human, not Faunus?" Weiss asked.

She shook her head. "Appearances can be deceiving. Think about it. You, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Me, the cat Faunus who ran away from the White Fang. But can you honestly say you have more in common with them than you have in common with me?"

"...no."

"Is cynical Blake being optimistic?" Yang asked in semi-mock surprise.

"No. Just because I see it this way doesn't mean everyone else will, even if they come here and look," Blake replied. "To be honest, I'm not sure if I could hold on to that if I went back."

"Going back," Ruby mused. "I want to think that everything's going to go back to the old normal, but I know it's not. I mean, we've been gone for almost a year already, and it could be more. Everyone's gone on without us- I made sure of... that."

"What is it?"

"I made sure that they'd go on without us," she said with conviction. "I don't know why or when or what, but I think I left a message before we disappeared. We must have been doing something dangerous."

"Torchwick? The White Fang?" Blake asked.

The crimsonette shrugged. "

"So what if we do go back?" Yang asked. "I'll be honest, I haven't really thought about it much."

"I try _not_ to think about it," Weiss admitted. "Whatever happens, it's going to be a mess. I'm hoping it's later and not sooner, because then Winter will be in charge of the company. If it hasn't turned her into a monster."

Blake was surprisingly optimistic. "I'm going to try to make a difference with the Faunus. I know that we can win over hate, and I think I know how to do it. It might not work, but I'm going to try again."

"Wow, I was just going to go back to trying to become a huntress and saving the world on the side," Ruby admitted. She stopped suddenly. "And... we're here."

During the course of their conversation, they had left the park behind and transitioned back to the urban environment. They were in the middle of the sidewalk on a busy street, with people rushing past them and some glaring angrily as they went around.

Ruby pointed to the sign above her and exclaimed enthusiastically, "Movie!"

"Cinderella?" Weiss snapped. "Of course you would want to see it."

"Oh, come on, Weiss, you'll enjoy it."

* * *

Blake looked at her partner, who shrugged in response. Their team leader grabbed her partner and half dragged her into the theatre, and the yellow and black duo followed calmly behind.

Yes, I think that all of them, even sweet innocent Ruby, have killed people. My general tendency (for this, at least) is to interpret things as they are shown, unfortunate implications at all. In at least two cases, it's pretty clear that people have died by their hands.

Ruby beat up a bunch of thugs in the first episode, and I don't think all of them survived. Some have proposed that she was careful to hit them with the broad edge of her scythe and not hit them too hard. But neither Ruby nor her weapon really lend themselves to that fine degree of control. Maybe their Aura protected them? But does it really work that way, turning a near-killing hit to an incapacitating one? And did they have it unlocked? Jaune didn't even know what Aura was, and given his background, he really should have. Unlocked Auras might not be that common among average people, and that might even extend to mooks that might be expected to fight.

Weiss, on the other hand, hasn't actually been shown doing anything that would be lethal to others until after the point of divergence. For this fic and this fic only, I'm leaving it ambiguous but implying that she has killed someone at some point for some reason.

Blake has almost certainly killed someone while she was with the White Fang. She may have even done it as some kind of test of loyalty. I think the eventual lack of justification would have weighed on her decision to leave.

Yang, well, just look at the Yellow trailer. Punching mooks left and right, shattering glass and blowing up the club. She's even more of a loose cannon than Ruby in this case, and her weapons aren't exactly suited to incapacitating either. As for Aura, again, they may or may not have had it, and it may or may not work that way. I'm going to say it wouldn't have helped anyway.

What's less clear is if they _realize_ they've killed people. In Ruby's case, it's possible that she didn't realize that hitting people with a giant scythe would pulverize their skeletons- okay, that sounds worse written down. Yang might have been caught up in the heat of the moment, but I think she would have realized after that she probably did end someone's life. If Aura is an inconsistent thing, that might add a degree of uncertainty to the whole thing.

Bottom line- it is my interpretation that all of them have killed at some point prior to arriving on Earth. I might be wrong, but that's what I'm going with for this fic.

Now on with the usual review replies.

themetaduck: They've watched the episode in question; that's what she's referring to.

ODST110: They're sort of dating; neither of them are really sure what dating entails (and neither am I). It'll be explained in the next chapter.

animal56: I don't think they'd be comfortable with letting them get into relationships indiscriminately, but they can't really exert much control without seriously negative consequences. They really want RWBY on their side above all else, and trying to prevent them from dating would have seriously negative consequences. Besides that, there's not that much that can go wrong. The biggest problem is if they tell someone their secret, and that's a secret by mutual agreement that RWBY has a vested interest in keeping.

Guest: Superior to Aliens Among Us or superior to the original Emergence? And what are the possibilities you speak of?

Ryulord1111: It's possible, but most are unlikely at this point. Weiss was originally written to see Ruby as more of a little sister/ersatz-Winter than a love interest, although reading a lot of White Rose has shifted that a little. Both Ruby and Yang are dating Terrans, which kind of rules out other ships at least in the short term. Monochrome is possible, but I'm not sure if I want to do it. But you were asking which were possible, not which would happen. In order of plausibility: Monochrome(+Gavin/Yang+Connor/Ruby), Freezerburn(+?), Bumblebee(+?), White Rose + Bumblebee.


	30. Gridiron Girls

I'm trying to get two chapters a week out in order to catch up with reality and finish up this story. Late June or early July, things are going to get serious with Convergence. I'm starting to put together more detailed plans for the first arc, and I think it's going to be pretty good. The first and third arcs have been more or less predicted by someone at some point, but I think that at least the details of the second arc are going to be a surprise.

I haven't played football since elementary school. That was a long time ago. I'm pretty sure playing with no safety gear like they do is kind of unsafe, but it seems like something irresponsible teenagers would do anyway.

* * *

**30: Gridiron Girls**

"Hey, Yang," Gavin greeted as the hot blonde strode across the field toward him.

"Hey," She replied, stopping and dropping her bag beside them. "So... where is everyone?"

"They're coming," he assured her. "What about your friends? Did they bail?"

"Nah, they're on their way too." She waved dismissively. "Ruby's got her date, Weiss didn't want to come but Blake's going to drag her ass out."

"Wait..." He paused. "Did you come early on purpose?"

She winked, sitting down lazily on the grass. "Maybe."

He shrugged and sat down beside her. "You said Ruby was on a date?"

Yang raised a quizzical eyebrow. "You don't know? She's dating your brother."

"I know that, I just didn't think they were really _dating_," Gavin protested, raising his hands. "I thought he meant he was dragging her out to play basements and dragons with her friends or something. Do you have any idea what they're doing?"

She laughed. "Knowing Ruby, probably stuffing their faces with ice cream and darting around looking at shiny objects."

They sat there and quietly watched the clouds pass by for what seemed like a few minutes, but was actually a much shorter period of time.

"Hey, Gavin," Yang said, leaning over and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"I'm not really human."

"What?"

"I'm actually part dragon." Yang carefully flared her Semblance, raising the temperature around them ever so slightly. She laughed. "That's why I'm so _hot_."

"Okay, that was pretty bad," Gavin said, joining her in mirth. "But it was bad in a good way."

After he managed to finish laughing, he added. "But I think I'd prefer you as the alien warrior princess instead of the dragon."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Well, I mean, dragons lay eggs, right? What if you're all dragon, you know, _down there_."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are we going that far already?"

"No, uh, I mean, if you-" the football player stammered.

Yang smiled, putting a finger over his mouth. "You're cute when you're awkward."

"Yaaaaang!" a high-pitched voice wailed from behind them.

"Ruby!" The blonde girl quickly stood up and whirled around to face her sister. "How did you get there?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm really fast, duh."

"Not an answer..."

"Well, that ruined the moment," Gavin grumbled under his breath.

"Weiss, Blake!" Ruby shouted across the field, already ignoring the couple. "Hurry up!"

"I'm moving as fast as I can," Weiss grumbled, striding toward them with an amused Blake behind her. "If it were my choice we wouldn't even be here."

"Geez, don't be such a killjoy, Weiss," Yang chided. She turned to her boyfriend. "Where are your friends?"

Gavin shrugged. "They're usually late."

"So... what do we do now?" Ruby asked.

"I guess I can start explaining football without them." He pulled an oblong, reddish-brown ball out of his backpack. "This, girls, is a football..."

* * *

"...and that's- you're late," Gavin said, turning to the three new arrivals. He tossed the football at Aaron, who awkwardly caught it. He turned back to the girls. "I think that's about it."

"Gavin," Ruby called, raising her hand. "Why is it called gridiron?"

"Uh... Aaron?"

"I have no idea," the dark-haired boy replied with a shrug. "Mike? Darrel?"

Mike answered, "Oh, gridiron originally referred to a torture device used to extract confessions during the Spanish Inquisition. When football was first played, the clergy was critical and drew the comparison. Players found it ironic and it stuck."

Gavin called him on it. "Bullshit."

Mike laughed. "Yeah, I just made that up."

Gavin turned to the girls and shrugged. "Just Google it."

"Okay, I guess we should probably mix up the teams. I guess... me, Darrel, Ruby, and Yang, and Aaron and Mike with Blake and Weiss." He paused and added awkwardly, "And I guess we should probably play two-hand touch because, well, you know..."

"It's fine," Yang said dismissively. "I want to play the real thing. Let's not fake it."

Darrel looked over the blonde- and might have been checking her out, too. She had a well-defined musculature but was fairly lightly built. The other girls looked much more frail. "So you're okay with being hit by guys twice your weight who've done this for years? You'll break bones and shit!"

She smirked mischievously, remembering the time she's tossed Weiss through a brick wall. "We're tougher than we look."

"Yeah!" her sister agreed.

Gavin raised his arms with a shrug. "Alright, whatever. We'll go easy on you."

Another seemingly misplaced grin from his girlfriend. "Your funeral."

Before they headed to the opposite sides of the field, Gavin whispered to Aaron, "Go easy on them."

"Go easy on the superhuman aliens. Check."

"Aaron, for fucks sake. If you decide to test this-"

"I'm not stupid," he assured his friend. "Let's just play some football."

Behind them, Blake turned to Weiss and rolled her eyes. She whispered, "Aaron's still suspicious."

"Let him be suspicious," the former heiress replied quietly. "The guy is nuts and everyone knows it."

Aaron tossed the ball up and down in the air. "So, who wants to do the kickoff?"

"You do it," Weiss immediately said to Blake.

"Okay, Blake's kicking." The faunus in question heard him mutter something about cats as he held the ball at the 30-yard line. She ignored the probable jibe and focused on the ball, dashing up to it and giving it a precise kick. The oblong shape tumbled as it flew down the field.

"I've got it!" Yang shouted, seeing the ball coming toward her. As she held out her arms to catch the ball, she realized that usually she was trying to avoid things flying toward her. She nearly dropped the oddly-shaped ball when she caught it.

"Run, Yang!" Ruby shouted at her sister. She needed no second bidding, dashing down the length of the field toward the opponent's goal line. Blake moved to block her, and she knew that she probably wouldn't be able to get past her partner, who was slightly faster than she was. Instead, she turned and tossed the ball backward toward Gavin, calling to him as she threw.

The football player caught the ball easily, continuing forward. With Blake already committed to Yang, he deemed Mike and Aaron to be the greatest threats and veered right, intending to push his way past the diminutive Anna Weiss. He considered that it might be a bit unfair, but reasoned that the other guys should be covering the girl anyway.

He was half expecting her to just get out of the way, but Weiss gritted her teeth and took off directly toward him with one shoulder down. The girl had atrocious technique, which wasn't unexpected, but she hit surprisingly hard, knocking him off balance. He stumbled without dropping the ball or hitting the ground and continued.

_You're not getting away that easily_. The heiress rolled back to her feet, pivoted on one heel and took off toward Gavin. She put more force behind the tackle this time, but resisted the urge to use Glyphs for an extra boost. This time, she caught the boy unaware, and they both tumbled awkwardly to the ground.

Somehow, Yang had managed to get there almost immediately. She laughed. "He's mine, Weiss, but I guess we can share if you _really_ want."

Weiss jumped to her feet and threw a death glare at the blonde.

"You know, you can be really dirty sometimes," Gavin told his girlfriend lightly.

"I've had some bad influences," Yang admitted. She didn't admit that many of them were fanfiction. Once she got past the awkwardness, some of it was very interesting to read.

"I think we all do," he replied. Once the rest of his team had gathered around, he told them, "Good play. Okay, who wants to be quarterback this play?"

"Ooh! Me!" Ruby yelled, jumping up and down. She took position behind him. He called the play and snapped the ball to the crimsonette, who caught it and took off.

It wasn't far to the goal line, but both Aaron and her partner were almost directly in her way. She decided to take a chance and headed right, away from Weiss and toward Aaron. The boy moved to intercept, but hesitated slightly. She put on an extra burst of speed and he tackled the air behind her.

Ruby slammed the football to the ground. "Woo! Touchdown!"

"We let you get that one," Aaron growled in good humour, grabbing the ball. He asked the two girls on his team. "Are you sure you haven't played football before?"

He received a pair of nods in reply. "Nothing similar?"

"Nope."

Aaron shrugged and continued. "Okay, here's what we're going to do..."

"Any idea what they're planning?" Yang asked Gavin. The opposing team was breaking out of their huddle and moving back toward them.

"Knowing Aaron? Probably involves trying to get Blake's hat off."

"He wouldn't really do that, would he?"

"God, I hope not," Gavin said. "It's not funny, especially after you think about what could actually be under her hat."

"Yeah, I- damn it! They've started!"

"Oh, that asshole!" The team quickly moved to block their opponents, who now had the initiative. Blake and Mike ran forward, with Aaron holding back and Weiss between them. Aaron tossed the ball forward toward Mike.

Ruby was in position to intercept it, but without her Semblance or her beloved, couldn't get even get halfway high enough. Mike caught the ball thirty yards from the goal line and ran forward, but didn't make it far before Yang came flying toward him. The hit wasn't enough to send him to the ground, but the girl held on and he stumbled before fumbling the ball and landing in a heap.

"Okay, we gotta be on the ball this time," Gavin told his team as they got into position for the next play.

An amused Yang asked, "Pun intended?"

He didn't answer, instead getting into position across from Aaron. Weiss was quarterback this time, which seemed like an odd choice. She handed the ball off to Blake almost immediately before moving forward toward Ruby.

Yang tackled her partner, only to find out that she no longer had the ball. "Oh, come on!"

Ruby realized too late that Weiss actually had the ball. She managed to stumble the heiress, but her tackle was more of a glancing hit and the white-haired girl recovered and continued into the end zone.

"Told you we let you get that one." Aaron taunted. Behind him, Weiss passed the ball to her partner, a thin smile on her lips.

It quickly became clear to both Gavin and Yang that neither group was really utilizing their full potential. The football players didn't want to hurt the girls, and the huntresses didn't want to hurt the Terrans. With no words of agreement exchange, they began to ramp up their game. Tackles became harder. Passes became longer. Running became faster.

"Hey, it's like we're actually playing," Mike remarked to Darrel after Blake slammed Ruby out of the way before being driven to the ground by Gavin. "Except, you know, with no helmets, and fifty percent more bitches."

Darrel looked at him with a quizzical expression. "Dude, did you fail math?"

"Only once, why?"

"No girls to four girls. That's a hundred percent more bitches!"

"No shit!" They laughed and high-fived.

"Alright, guys, one more down and I think we should finish for the day," Gavin said to the players. They had been at it for a while, and he was worried about the game getting too intense for something that was supposed to be casual, fun, and (relatively speaking) safe.

"Aww, already?" Yang joked. She took the ball and winked before taking position as the center. She paused for a moment before snapping it to Gavin, who took it and ran.

Mike immediately moved to take him down. Just before being tackled, Gavin passed the ball laterally to Ruby- or tried to. Aaron intercepted the ball before it could reach her and dashed forward, turning the play around on Gavin's team.

Ruby gritted her teeth and charged forward, putting on as much speed as she could without activating her Semblance. She slammed into Aaron's side, hearing the larger boy grunt as they went crashing to the ground.

The stumbled up awkwardly, Aaron in visible pain. Ruby was concerned, realizing that she probably hit him a lot harder than she meant to. "Ohmygosh! Are you okay?"

Aaron joked, "I think I broke a rib. Or all of them."

She didn't get it. "Is it that bad?"

He shook his head. "It's a joke, it's not bad."

"Hey, you alright?" Gavin called, trotting up to them.

"Yeah, but I think we should call it a day before someone else gets hurt," Aaron replied. It hurt like hell, but it couldn't be that bad. He was tackled by a little girl, for crying out loud!

Or a little huntress-in-training.

"I think you're right," Gavin agreed, snapping him out of his thoughts. He picked up the football. "It was fun, though. You girls are surprisingly good."

They quickly packed up, said their farewell,s and left. The boys headed to the parking lot and the girls headed toward the bus stop.

Once they were out of earshot, Weiss asked, "Wait, did he say we shouldn't be good because we're girls?"

Blake shrugged. "Cultural differences."

* * *

_linkthetoaoftime_: Aura means no blood or gore, but what happens when Aura runs out. One possibility is that it's directly linked to the soul and when they run out of Aura, they simply die. Another is that it works like a shield, and when it's depleted, they start taking hits directly to their body. The latter is more or less what I'm going for in Emergence, but either way, it doesn't make hitting to incapacitate any easier. In fact, accidentally killing someone might actually be more likely with Aura, because if you don't know how strong your opponent is, you might use way too much force and kill them in one hit. If Aura is leaky (some damage gets through), then incapacitating might be more viable, but it doesn't seem to work that way. They weren't there for the train this time, but the way they react after, either they don't realize they've killed people or they've already been desensitized to the violence.

_GreatWyrmGold_: It's a bit of an overgeneralization on their part. In my experience, standards are very low in schools. Not bleeding is a point, but she might not have been charged with murder even if she did kill some of them. It could be acceptable (can't remember what this is called at the moment) to defend the store from a robbery and as soon as they attacked her, it's self-defence. Depending on how the legal system works, it may never go to court. I see Remnant as being a lot less strict in this area- self-defence is okay and even vigilantism to some degree.

Junior and the Malachites are clearly a cut above the average mook, we don't know if they're all the same mooks, and Yang should have been charged even if she didn't kill anyone. I suspect that Junior swept it under the table to avoid attracting attention.

For Weiss, it depends on which interpretation of the Schnee patriarch you decide to go with. In the most cynical, Schnees are evil and Papa Schnee is an utter bastard interpretation, she might have been forced to kill just to prove that she can. Blake didn't want innocent bystanders to die, which is much different than killing someone who you know (or at least thought at the time) is an enemy.

Pyrrha was in direct physical contact and the Scrolls might be limited to other teammates, possibly with Scrolls. See the response above for my thoughts on what happens when Aura fails.

_Cheatengine343_: Time could be stopped in relation to us but still flow normally within their universe. Something something frames of reference.

_Masterelite28_: For the time being, the existing relationships will continue. It's possible, but unlikely, that Monochrome will develop. I'm not sure what will happen in the long run, but I don't think these are long-term relationships.

_ODST110_: What?

_A Friend_: All will be revealed soon... well, in about a month, anyway.

_coolshades45_: The title itself is a hint. Converge, verb. a. To tend toward or approach an intersecting point: lines that converge. b. To come together from different directions; meet: The avenues converge at a central square. From The Free Dictionary.


	31. Our Lives Suck

The chapter is not as depressing as the chapter title might suggest. Recently, I've been moving a lot of the author's notes to the bottom, so check down there for some thoughts.

* * *

**31: Our Lives Suck**

It was only four days in and Yang Xiao Long was already running out of steam. She laid back in the couch with a controller held lazily in one hand. Her character had already died, but her teammate was still in the game.

"God damn it!" Weiss Schnee shrieked at the screen. Much to their amusement, the former heiress had taken to video games in a completely unexpected way. First-person shooters turned the elegant lady into a sweaty-palmed can of violent profanity.

"Weiss, you killed Jeb!" Ruby Rose whined from behind her laptop. A string of explosions emanated from its speakers.

"If you designed your rockets safe, he would have been fine," her white-haired partner shot back. "Stop distracting me. This is important!"

"Call of Duty is important?" a fourth voice asked. Blake Belladonna poked her head into the room, her signature toque already on her head. "Hey, I'm going to the library. Is anyone looking for any books?"

"Ooh! Can you get the space exploration one again?" Yang and Weiss shared a look of amusement. They book in question was one of their team leader's favourites- and they were pretty sure it was a picture book meant for kids.

"I'll try. See you in an hour." In one smooth motion, Blake grabbed her backpack and disappeared out the front door.

* * *

Aaron realized as soon as Blake stepped into the library that the ever-suspicious girl would assume he had been searching for her, even though that wasn't his intention at all.

He had come in to drop off some books for his parents, since he was passing by- he rarely even opened physical books. He kind of regretted the decision- the heavy books hadn't been kind on his sore body. As soon as he saw the familiar hat, he hurriedly dropped the bag of books into the return chute and ducked into the nonfiction section.

"Really, Aaron?" A familiar voice chided from right behind him.

In retrospect, trying to avoid a literal ninja probably wasn't such a good plan.

"What, I was just looking for-"

"Women's studies?" Blake asked, motioning to the shelves.

"Uh... it's for my mom?"

The look on Blake's face was an odd mix of anger and amusements. "Nice try. Look closely at what's on the shelves."

"Contemporary Database Administration, SQL Server 2008..." Aaron groaned. "I see what you did."

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long have you been here? Is this the first time?"

The boy didn't answer, instead asking, "Are you always this paranoid?"

Blake huffed. "You've been trying to prove we're fictional characters since we got here!"

He caught the odd wording, or at least what he perceived as odd wording. "Whoa, wait. Did you just say, _since we've got here_?"

"See what I mean?" Blake turned on her heel and began to stride away.

"Well, you're not making it easy!" He didn't really think about it, just listed off his points tactlessly. "All your names line up- not quite, but close enough. Your abilities line up- Ruby's fast, Weiss is bitchy, you're sneaky and Yang is strong. In fact, you're all a lot stronger than you should be. Every single one of you is weird and I've never seen you take off that fucking hat!"

She whirled around and shouted. "Aaron, this is Earth! This is the real world! Characters don't just pop out of the television and onto the street! You're _insane_!"

"Uh, excuse me," a thin man in a checkered shirt interrupted, poking his head into the aisle. "This is a library and I'd prefer if you could-"

Both of them shouted at the intruder, "Fuck off!"

He slinked away, muttering, "Yeah, I'm just going to call security."

Tempers were flaring and Aaron had no tact left. "Then take off the hat! Show me you have nothing to hide!"

"No."

"Why?"

"I don't want people to see what's under it," she replied quietly, forcing herself to calm down.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to talk about it." A pause and a sniff. "Look, we do it on purpose, okay? Our lives suck. Do you know what it's like living as a ward of the state?"

"I knew a guy like that," the boy said weakly. "It didn't sound that bad."

She chewed her lip, biting back her original retort. "You make the best of it. This is how we cope."

"Our lives all suck."

The statement surprised her a little. "I don't think so."

"No, really," Aaron explained. "I have no future. Football is my thing, but I'm nowhere near good enough to make a career out of it. I could go to college or university, except I can't afford it and I don't qualify for any of the scholarships or bursaries. I'm going to have to get a job, but the only ones around are basically shit, because the market's gone to hell.

"I've got a good family, okay, but there are lots of people with fucked up families, split up weird or alcoholic fathers and shit like that. You've got the other girls and I can tell they're like sisters to you, which is pretty fucking good. Maybe the crown can't fix your childhood, but they've got your future- I mean, you get free university, right?

"And maybe you're weird, but we're all kind of weird, really, once you look a little, you just show it on the surface more. It's a new school and it's hard to make friends but maybe you have more friends than you think or you can, anyway. And maybe you think you'll never find love but hey, it's not your fault. I thought I was prime boyfriend material and I still don't have a girlfriend."

He knew he was ranting, venting his own frustrations, and finished, "Okay, I'm rambling, but basically, okay. You should have just said you did it on purpose. RWBY's fucking awesome and sometimes I wish I was the superpowered action hero too. Because our lives suck. In comparison. They're not that bad, really."

The only response he got was an ambiguous mumble.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry, okay?" Aaron apologized awkwardly. "I'm sorry about everything. So... do you want to start over? Do you want to get lunch or something? You look like you could use it."

* * *

"How many rounds has it been?" Yang asked, setting the controller down.

"Don't know," Weiss said curtly. In the brief moment she was distracted, another player put a bullet in her character's skull from across the map. "Yob tvoyu maht!"

"It's a really good thing she broke our only Xbox headset," Ruby whispered to her sister.

Yang laughed. "Yeah. Never knew such a delicate flower could have such a foul mouth."

"It's this planet! Earth is a bad influence!" Weiss blamed. She got revenge on the player who had shot her seconds before with a lucky grenade. "Hah! Take that!"

"Hey, how long has Blake been?" Yang asked.

"It's been... two hours..." Ruby realized. "She said she'd be back in an hour! I hope she's okay."

"She's fine. Probably opened a book and decided to read it or something."

"I guess, but I should probably text her anyway." Ruby fished through her pockets for her phone. Unlocking it with a circle of her thumb, she opened the message app and sent off a quick message.

_Blake where r u?_

She set the phone down on the coffee table in front of her. Seconds later, it buzzed, indicating a received text message. She read it aloud. "Having lunch with Aaron. Long story, but told him we're like RWBY on purpose and he's stopped asking."

Before she finished, it buzzed again. "Actually a nice guy... kind of."

Yang was surprised. "So, Blake has Aaron off our backs, and they're _dating_? I am so going to grill her on the details when she gets back."

"What? Really, how could- damn it! Noscope? Really?" Weiss huffed and tossed the controller onto the table in frustration.

"Weird day?" Ruby asked her sister.

She half-shrugged. "Weird day."

* * *

**Krazyfanfiction1**: Weiss Reacts was an influence on this fic, more so at earlier stages than now. They were curious about the fictional versions of themselves to various degrees, and some of them made the leap to fanfiction. Some ran away really fast after seeing certain things, though.

**Firehawk242**: While I was writing that chapter, I was distracted by thoughts of what sports would be like if they did use all their abilities. I think it would be a pretty intense game.

**animal56**: They kind of forgot and dismissed it, but they were more worried about her friends than her.

**Happy1K1nob1**: It's a point of view thing, too. From one side, it looks like time is speeding by, from the other, it looks molasses slow. In the hypothetical case that you can see it and time is flowing linearly. I think that if you observe at points in time, you can only compare those points, but this kind of physics is complicated and largely beyond me.

**ODST110**: I'm often confused because the review format tends to rob a review of its context.

**GreatWyrmGold**: It's generally frowned upon to do so here, but it's not necessarily true on Remnant. In some parts of the world and in some periods in history, it's perfectly acceptable. In any case, she did not have nonlethal options and as soon as the thug put a gun in her face her actions became self-defence. In most places, she would be justified in responding with lethal force.

Actually, I am going to claim that these teenagers have more Aura than grown men. We know Aura varies among individuals- Pyrrha tells Jaune that he has a lot of it. In terms of talent, the students at Beacon are probably within the top fractions of the top one percent. These are the people with strong Aura. The thugs? Probably better than average, but I'd put them well below even hunter candidate material.

I don't really see the Schnee patriarch as that bad, either, but some authors have made a truly monstrous Mr. Schnee both believable and enticing. I don't think Blake is like that anymore, but I do think that she was at one point before turning around. Maybe reluctant, but I don't think she was entirely against it.

How is an area Aura sensor more likely than an individual one as part of their equipment? I've thought about that failure mode, but what if you hit them too hard or hit them again?

In general, I think I simply view Remnant as a much more violent place than you do.

**Little Can**: Right now, yes, but they came close to an ethnic cleansing in the past. Depending on how livable Menagerie is, it may have even been a de facto genocide. Give them their own home and let the Grimm eat them.

As for the girls' sexual orientation, I think I've described it before. Most Remnans don't have fixed sexual orientation the way we do, as a biological quirk. It's totally my creation and it's totally fanon, but it's what I'm going with for this fic for various reasons.

That kind of corporate greed was and is bad. Are they evil in the traditional sense? I don't think so. But I think the SDC is absolutely ruthless in their pursuits.

**Guest**: I'm honestly not sure what you're talking about or even if this was written by a human.

**Guest**: Why?

**winxfan808**: I'm glad you have that perception of this fic, because realism in the way people act was a major goal for it. Arrival was a joke, but there were some hints in it, and Convergence is going to be big- there will be more hints and tidbits coming out over the next few weeks. I have fairly tight plans for the rest of Aliens Among Us, reasonably specific ones for Convergence, and loose ones after that.

**sMoKeWeEdEvErYdA**: What does that have to do with anything? I'm honestly not sure what you're saying here.

**mastermind**: Someone once said that the side that can out-produce the other will win (not Sun Tzu, but possibly Clausewitz). In that area, the United States has every advantage. They have a much larger population by one or two orders of magnitude. They have half a continent's worth of natural resources. They have the industry and the infrastructure to turn that into materiel. They can afford to and no doubt already have raised a much larger army. On top of that, they have wide-open shipping lanes and a lot of allies. They're not as behind technologically as one might think and their overall capability might be better. They can trade space for time, because they have much, much greater strategic depth. And if all else fails, they have an ace in the hole that no Remnan has seen before. Finally, I'm Canadian.

* * *

So... Aaron/Blake is maybe a thing. In all honesty, I didn't really go into this chapter thinking that would happen, but this chapter kind of wrote itself.

None of these Terran ships have names, and I'm having trouble coming up with them. Best I've got for this one is Sneaking Suspicion, and I only came up with that today. Before that, all I had was Alpha Bravo.

So, what's coming? Figure less than ten chapters left- maybe Aliens Among Us will be a nice even 40 chapters, but we'll see. The schedule will continue to be a bit odd, but I'm still planning to finish up this by the end of June, with Convergence launching early the next month.


	32. Breaks are Too Short

Kind of a bridge/filler chapter. The whole "home stretch" thing applies to the story in a meta way as well. I'm done for the year myself, and being busy with that is why this chapter is so short.

* * *

**32: Breaks Are Too Short**

"Breaks are too short," Connor quipped, tossing his empty bag of popcorn away as he left the theatre.

"Maybe," Ruby replied, dumping her own trash and entwining her hand with Connor's. "But if they were too long, then they wouldn't be special. Besides, it's not like school's that bad."

"I don't know," the boy said, uncertain. "I never really fit in. It's hard to make friends."

"But you did, didn't you?"

"Yeah." He looked at his girlfriend and smiled. "And then I met the best girlfriend ever."

She blushed. "Aww..."

"You are my girlfriend, right? Like, we're a couple now?" the awkward boy rambled. "I really don't know how these things work."

She smiled, a warm radiant smile that went beautifully with her nearly metallic eyes. "Of course I am, Connor."

"And you're not going to leave if you... well, you know, find someone better." The last few words came out almost as a whisper.

"Nope." Ruby planted a kiss on his cheek, making him blush. She stepped back and smiled. "See you tomorrow."

"Breaks are too short," Weiss complained, wiping her sweaty palms on her yoga pants and picking up the controller again.

"You're addicted," her raven-haired teammate told her, typing something into her laptop.

"No, I'm just-" She was cut off by the beginning of the round. "Okay, morons, don't fucking rush this time-"

Almost immediately, she was interrupted by the nasal and crackly voice of a teenaged boy with a half-broken microphone. "Hey, uh, WeissQueen, are you actually Kara?"

"Yeah, I mean you sound like Kara," another voice, this one younger but clearer, chimed in.

"Uh, Kara doesn't sound like that. It's like voice processing they do for- FUCK FUCKING CUNTS!"

"You just got owned by noscope dude."

"Who the hell is Kara?" the former heiress shouted into her headset. Yang, who was sitting right beside her, winced and regretted her decision to replace the communication device after breaking the last one.

"You know, Kara Eberle, the voice actor for Weiss Schnee-"

"Fucking weeb."

"Douche!"

"Dude, there's nothing wrong with anime-"

"RWBY's not anime-"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, we're not-"

"It's from Texas, anime is from-"

"Would you just play the fucking game?" Weiss shouted. While she was momentarily distracted, her character was killed instantly by a shotgun blast at point blank. "Fuck!"

Ruby zipped over to the couch and whispered to her sister, "I can't believe we turned Weiss into a gamer."

"Oh, I don't think we did anything," Blake told her, looking up from her laptop. "This is what happens when you introduce an incredibly competitive spirit with a drive for perfection to Call of Duty."

Weiss managed to get two kills of her own in before getting gunned down. "Hacks! You couldn't have seen me, the geometry doesn't line up-"

"Kara, shut the fuck up."

Weiss turned to her teammates, teeth clenched and white-knuckled grip on the controller. "I hate this game."

Yang grinned. "Yeah, sure."

"Breaks are too short," Yang grumbled, trudging her way toward the now-familiar entrance of their school.

"You said that yesterday," Weiss reminded her, irritated. "And five minutes ago."

"And you were shouting it constantly between insults to twelve year olds in the middle of a match," the blonde shot back.

The white-haired girl bit back an angry retort, realizing that her teammate was right. "I... it was a mistake."

Yang lightly punched her in the shoulder. "You were enjoying it."

"I was not!"

"You kind of were, Weiss," Ruby chimed in. "I think that's a good thing. You really need to have more fun."

"Spring break was fun," she admitted. "But today I'm going to be serious. I'm going to start working again."

Her partner shook her head. "You're going to be back on the console as soon as we get home."

"I'm going to do homework."

"You'll be done in minutes. I've never seen you have trouble," Blake reminded her quietly. "You probably won't even do it at... home..."

"Relax, Weiss. We've only got a few months left, and they're going to go by quick, then we're going to get a _really long_ break-" Yang stopped, picking up on her partner's discomfort and turned to her. "Something on your mind?"

"The house we live in, I called it _home_," she explained slowly. "I mean, for all intents and purposes, it is, but it just feels... natural, but unnatural."

"We've been here for half a year," Weiss stated cynically. "It was bound to happen."

"Remnant will always be home, even if this is our new home," Ruby reminded her team. "Just like we're about to split off to our classes because _we're going to be late_, but we'll always be a team!"

* * *

**Guest**: Weiss is playing Call of Duty. Ruby is playing Call of Duty. Ruby likes space. Incidentally, I found Ruby's favourite book while I was cleaning out my room.

**winxfan808**: Earth is a bad influence. Management and simulation type games like SimCity or Civilization seem like a more natural fit for Weiss, but I think becoming addicted to something like Call of Duty is absurd yet plausible. As for ship names, go ahead and give me your suggestions, because I'm drawing a total blank on most of them.

**GreatWyrmGold**: It's set in early April, so Ruby would still be on v0.90.0. A KSP analog is iffy, because it's based in reality for us but probably science fiction for them. It makes lots of historical references, too, which wouldn't exist if they hadn't had a space program.

It's not a huge moral divide- there are plenty of places on Earth, even in what we consider the civilized world, where it would be perfectly acceptable. If someone is pointing a gun at you, are you going to draw and shoot them back or are you going to risk a nonlethal pistol whip? Ruby may have had the option in a strict sense, but probably dismissed it as not worth it or reacted without thinking of it.

If it is genetic, both Ruby and Yang would have high potential. If it's influenced by the environment of the early stages of their lives- which a lot of things seem to be- then it's not unreasonable that they would both turn out very capable. The Schnees may come from an old hunting family- earlier in their history, hunters probably had a lot of power. If it's environmental, she may have had a childhood with conditions conducive to such development, whatever those conditions are. If it's stress, well, the Schnee household was not a peaceful place.

The sensor would only be able to pick up those people if it was a device worn directly on or in close proximity to them. It would then transmit data through the scrolls so that each of them would readings on the other. It's telemetry, not measurement at a distance. This seems easier to me than scanning for Aura readings across a long distance and discriminating between them.

I'll admit that that Aura failure mode is not an implausible one.

Whether Menagerie was more of a reservation or an extermination camp depends on how dangerous the place really was. If they just dropped Faunus there without protection- and maybe if they had some form of protection- it could have been a death sentence in all but name. No, they're not exterminating the Faunus. They're letting the Grimm do it for them. It's cheaper and they can keep their hands clean... ish.

This is mostly speculation and fanon. I tend to lean toward making Remnant really different rather than just Earth with the serial numbers filed off, and I'll admit that I sometimes go out of the way to make it alien.

**Guest**: What the fuck?

**some guy**: Probably not. There isn't anyone left to ship her with, and I don't want to introduce new characters at this point. Remnans aren't bisexual, exactly. Most are heterosexual, but a large proportion is kind of demisexual. They aren't attracted to one gender specifically, and attraction becomes much stronger once they bond emotionally with someone.


	33. Yard Work

I actually didn't have a plot for this chapter until I mowed the lawn, which was the inspiration for this. I'm happy with most of this chapter, except for the ending.

Oh, and if you're looking for some speculation fuel, the first chapter of Convergence is tentatively titled _Dawn's Early Light_.

* * *

**33: Yard Work**

It had started with an innocent few words. Well, mostly innocent.

"That's where you live?" Gavin asked, pulling up in front in his borrowed vehicle.

"Don't like it?" Yang asked lightly from the passenger seat.

He shrugged. "Well, the house is nice, but when's the last time you mowed the lawn?"

"I don't think we've _ever_ mowed the lawn." Yang laughed. She kissed her boyfriend on the cheek and stepped out of the car. "See you on Monday."

As soon as the blonde made it through the door, she was hug-tackled by a ball of red energy. "Yang! How was your date?"

"It was good," she replied evasively, not really wanting to discuss her love life with her little sister at ten in the evening. "He thinks the yard's a mess, though."

The crimsonette excused, "It's not that bad... is it?"

Weiss poked her head out the door. Even in the dim glow of the streetlights, she could tell the yard was overgrown. "Dear god, it's _horrid_."

"You just noticed?" Blake asked her. "I thought you'd be the first to notice."

"I was busy!" the former heiress protested. "And before you say anything, it wasn't with Call of Duty."

"She finally figured out Netflix," Blake explained. "And Global Offensive."

Ruby ignored them. "Tomorrow is Saturday-"

Weiss interrupted, "I thought we were going to the art gallery?"

"The art gallery can wait!" Ruby announced with a dramatic flourish. "Tomorrow, we clean up the yard!"

* * *

"That's a Terran lawnmower?" Weiss asked, poking the box in disdain. "Didn't they have any normal ones?"

"We were going to buy one, but the lady at the Home Depot said we shouldn't bother," Ruby replied with a shrug. "Apparently everyone uses this kind now."

"Well, let's see what it looks like." Yang grabbed a utility knife from a cluttered shelf and cut the box open, revealing the machine, packed in foam, along with a manual and a bottle of oil.

Her partner quickly reached in and retrieved the manual, knowing that Yang wouldn't bother reading it. She flipped it open. "Seems simple enough. Unfold the handle, put the oil in, put the fuel in, start it. Should probably adjust the height, though."

Ruby, meanwhile, had ripped the foam aside and was inspecting the underside of the mower. "Wow, look at the blade on this thing! I wonder if you could make this into a-"

"No," Weiss snapped. "No, Ruby, you can't turn it into a weapon."

Her shoulder slumped. "Aww."

"Me and Blake can figure out the lawnmower," Yang proposed. "If you want to deal with the other stuff."

"Okay," Ruby said before ripping another box open. She tossed a pair of green and silver objects to Weiss, who barely caught them. "We need to charge the weedwacker."

"Weedwacker?" Weiss asked, mating the battery with its charger and plugging it into the nearest outlet. "Is that seriously what they call it?"

"I think so," the crimsonette replied. She looked at the box again. "Oh, sorry, I guess the proper name is string trimmer. But I think weedwacker sounds better. Catch, Weiss!"

She barely reacted in time to catch the offending objects. "Gloves and a pruner? What's this for?"

The crimsonette rolled her eyes, pulling on her own gloves and swinging a shorter pair of pruners. "For pruning, duh. These are mostly the same."

"How would I know?" Weiss asked flatly. "I've never done it."

Ruby smiled at her, grabbing a wrist and dragging her out of the garage. "Today you are!"

* * *

"So, oil's in, gas is in, height's adjusted, and we're not using the bag," Yang said, inspecting the pristine machine one last time. "And I don't see any way to prime it, so I guess it doesn't have to be primed."

"Primed?" Blake asked, flipping through the manual again.

"Yeah, it's for pulling fuel into the carburetor before you start the engine," she explained.

"I have no idea what you just said."

"Nevermind, it doesn't have one." Without warning her partner, she squeezed the safety bar and pulled back on the recoil starter. The small engine sputtered to life.

Blake jumped back with the sudden sound, glaring at her laughing partner. "Just for that, I'm not telling you how the self-propelled thing works."

"What self-propelled- oh!" The lawnmower jumped forward when the blonde pressed the bar under the handle. "Okay. I still can't believe they'd come up with something this dangerous."

"A spinning blade attached to a small engine, mostly covered by a metal deck, that can move under its own power," Blake considered. "I suppose that is pretty dangerous. But it won't do anything on its own, so as long as you know what you're doing..."

"Yeah, but people are stupid," Yang reminded her partner, pushing the roaring machine toward the first patch of thick grass. "Or at least, some people, anyway. When I was in power mechanics, the teacher showed us a video of a guy almost getting his arms ripped off by a lathe."

Blake considered that for a moment. "How do you even do that?"

Ruby and Weiss, meanwhile, had taken a break from trimming and edged their way into the front yard, the crimsonette attracted by the noise of the machine.

"That _thing_ is incredibly irritating!" Weiss complained.

Her partner had an entirely different opinion. "Ooh..."

"Let's just get back to pruning so we can finish that up, then you can do the weed trimming, then we can go inside and relax." Weiss huffed. She knew that they were almost done pruning the two trees and one shrub on the property, and the energetic crimsonette would probably do a haphazard and very quick job of the weeds. Then she could go back to her precious Counter-Strike.

"Oh yeah, the weed trimmer," Ruby exclaimed. She pushed her pruners on the former heiress. "You can finish up the pruning."

Weiss took the pruners, heading back into the backyard and away from the loud lawnmower. She surveyed Ruby's pruning job. It was much more haphazard than her own, but looked good enough. Both trees were done, leaving her with the only the shrub to- "What are you doing?"

Ruby pulled back, spraying Weiss with bits of shrub flying off the end of the weed trimmer. "I thought it would be faster."

"It's a weed cutter, not a bush cutter!" the former heiress shrieked. "Just trim the edges of the yard, around the house! Not the shrub!"

"Killjoy," Ruby rolled her eyes and started to hack away the weeds half a metre from Weiss' feet. "Die, weeds, die!"

"I should have known that letting Ruby use that thing was a bad idea," Yang commented to Blake, forcing a reluctant lawnmower through a particularly thick patch of grass. "At least she's not using this death machine."

The comment struck Blake as out of place. "Didn't she used to regularly use a seven foot long scythe?"

Yang paused for a moment. "Huh. Yeah. We used to fight monsters, and now I'm worrying about gardening equipment?"

"Welcome to Earth," the faunus replied cynically. "Complacent yet paranoid."

"It's going to be so weird when we go back," the blonde concluded, engaging the drive lever and letting the lawnmower pull itself into a smoother patch of grass. "If we go back."

"Tell me about it," Blake concurred.

"Wanna ride?"

Blake glared at her partner. "What?"

"The _lawnmower_," she corrected.

Blake glanced at the idling machine. "I don't think that's how it's supposed to work."

"So? Come on Blake, it'll be fun." Yang had a pleading look on her eyes.

She sighed. "Fine."

Climbing on to the lawnmower was an awkward affair. Blake found herself standing with her feet astride the engine, leaning against the reinforcement bar running between the two sides of the handle. As soon as she was relatively settled, Yang squeezed hard on the drive lever and pushed. Blake bumped against the machine as it careened wildly down the length of the yard. "Yaaaaang!"

Weiss looked up briefly before going back to her pruning. "Am I the only sane person here?"

* * *

"Well, I'm totally burnt out," Yang said, pushing the now dirty lawnmower into the garage. "How does the yard look."

"Great!"

"Better."

"Fine."

"I think this has been a pretty productive day," Ruby concluded. "I think we're gonna be ordering pizza tonight. And then ice cream. And then Netflix."

She received a chorus of agreement. The tired team wandered back inside their dwelling, Yang toward the shower, Blake toward the couch, Weiss toward her computer, and Ruby toward the kitchen.

* * *

**PrinceLarkin**: If this is a reference, I don't get it.

**Aghast Soldier Guy**: I used Call of Duty because it's the archetypal online shooter. Most likely, she was initially attracted by the singleplayer campaign, hoping for story and insights into Terran warfare. Then she tried multiplayer, and despite initial failures quickly became extremely competitive. And the rest was history. But now she's moved on to Counter-Strike, mostly because I know more about that game. I think that simulation and strategy games would have been a better fit for her character if she hadn't become addicted to shooters first.

**animal56**: The thing is, Vicki was never intended to be homosexual, and I haven't written or developed her with that in mind. However, there _is_ a possible ship in the cards for Weiss that I'm not going to reveal yet.

**Hazzamo**: Because I'm not familiar enough with them for it to even occur to me. The choice was basically between their fairy tale inspirations or as themselves, because that's all I know.

**TehUnoman**: Agreed that it's not a question of if but when. The real question, though, isn't who is going to slip up and how, but what happens next.

**HAHAHAno**: No. Everyone looks normal.

**winxfan808**: The looser Weiss was kind of an impulsive thing on my part, but I like the way it turned out. I see her as being very reserved and repressed, carefully controlling herself. Once she's realized that she doesn't have to be perfect anymore, the floodgates have opened, and she's actually overly expressive because of this. One of the themes of this story is that things change, people change, yet things still stay the same in a way.. I like Shining Star (Shining Stars?), but the Ruby/Conner suggestions just don't do it for me. Perhaps Geeks and Dorks? Something along those lines, anyway.

**coolshades45**: Remnans are not Nazis. A few very racist Remnans could be considered on their level. What happens when they make contact depends on the exact conditions of that contact. An aggressive thrust by Mistralian forces into Russia would only end in disaster. A diplomatic delegation walking across the portal from Atlas to Washington would probably go better. Most likely, RWBY would stay out of any conflict unless things got really bad.


	34. On The Home Stretch

We're getting closer to the end of the story. I've decided not to do the arc between this and the last arc. I already have more story than I really have time to do, so after this chapter I'll be going straight into the final arc of Aliens Among Us. Perhaps four more chapters. I'm not sure if I'll do an epilogue or not after that.

* * *

**34: On The Home Stretch**

"Ugh..." Yang complained, stepping out of the class behind her team. "I mean, I know one of the parts of the class is to show that war is really bad, but did they have to show _that_?"

"It was pretty gross," Ruby agreed quietly. "Couldn't they have just skipped to the part where they save Private Ryan?"

"It was a realistic portrayal," Blake said. "Terran wars are bloodier than ours, figuratively and literally."

Ruby changed topics abruptly. "Well, we're on the home stretch-"

"The what?" Weiss asked.

"It's an Earthism," Blake explained. "It means the final phase or part of some process."

"Yeah, since we're on the home stretch, I mean, we only have six weeks of school left, I was thinking we should go for ice cream."

"Of course it has to be ice cream," Weiss complained, rolling her eyes.

"I thought you liked ice cream," Yang mentioned.

"In moderation! Not like our glorious leader. A hextuple cone? Really?"

Ruby retorted, "Hey! I need lots of sugar for my fast metropolism."

"I think you mean metabolism," Blake corrected quietly.

Ruby noticed an uncomfortable look on her teammate's face. "Blake?"

She shook her head. "Just go. I'm meeting with Aaron today."

Yang smirked. "Oh? Blakey has a hot date?"

She suppressed the urge to glare at the loud blonde. "Not exactly."

* * *

"I don't think we can keep doing this, Blake."

Aaron's words evoked mixed feelings in the girl. On one hand, Aaron was a pretty nice guy when you got to know him, and when they got along, they got along well. On the other hand, there was the elephant in the room that she wasn't quite human, and never was it more apparent than when they were together.

Her tone was more curious than sad. "Why?"

"I know this is going to sound cliched, but it's not you, it's me," Aaron explained awkwardly. "Well, sort of. Okay, this is gonna sound really bad-"

"Just tell me," she snapped, harsher than she probably should have.

"Every time I see you, I see _her_!" he replied, exasperated. "I see cat ears under your hat, I think your hair should be a lot longer, I find it weird that your eyes aren't a shade lighter. I even mentally rearrange your name from Bella Blake to Blake Belladonna."

"Aaron..." Part of her wanted to just tell him the truth, that she really is Blake Belladonna. The was the idealistic part, the part worn down by years of a harsh world. The pragmatic part, the cynical part, the finely honed part of her said no. Don't do it, because it would only make things worse. For everyone.

"I know, it's entirely fucked up, and I'm probably crazy just for even thinking that, but I just don't think it's going to work-"

"Aaron, it's okay." She smiled thinly before turning to leave. "And you're not as crazy as you think."

"Oh, come on!" the boy shouted after her, half-jokingly. "Now you're just fucking with me!"

* * *

"You broke up with him, didn't you?" Weiss asked quietly, shutting her laptop.

Blake didn't answer, hiding behind her book. Her teammate prodded, "Must be a very interesting page. You've been staring at it long enough."

Finally, she set the book down. With a sigh, she replied, "It had to happen."

"So you _did_ break up with him."

The cat faunus shook her head slowly. "Not exactly. He broke up with me. Said he had to, because he kept seeing Blake Belladonna. It's for the best."

"But you _are_ Blake Belladonna."

She nodded grimly. "I know. That's what makes it so difficult."

After a pause, she continued, "Aaron was just a fling and I know it- we were never really serious. But what if I meet someone really special? What if I do fall in love? They'll have no idea they're falling in love with... a freak."

"I hope you're talking about being Remnan and not being a Faunus," Weiss cautioned.

"Both! We're all freaks, but I'm the only one who can't hide it forever." She twitched her exposed cat ears for emphasis. "I can't cover these up forever. Yes, I can keep them hidden in public, but I don't think I can hide them from someone I get that close to."

"Blake," the former heiress interrupted. "We're all in the same boat. We can't hide forever either. What if Ruby uses her Semblance? She could get complacent and just forget she has to control it, or maybe she'll play the hero and use it deliberately. Or what if somebody pisses Yang off?"

"What about you?"

"I'm eighteen and I have white hair. Sooner or later somebody is going to realize that I never dye it. And if I don't cover up my scar, well, it's quite distinctive."

"You can make excuses for those."

"To someone I'm in love with?" Weiss asked rhetorically. "Maybe. I don't know what love is supposed to be like. It was always described to me as... more like a contract."

"It's still easier for you to live as a Terran. I don't know if I can live my entire life pretending, and if I reveal myself, well, you guys won't be able to hide either, and I don't know if I can-"

"We're in this together, Blake," Weiss assured her, sliding over and wrapping her arms around her teammate.

The move surprised Blake. "Are you hugging me?"

She pulled away. "Ruby's rubbing off on me. Sorry. Am I doing it wrong?"

"No," Blake pulled her back, finding the position surprisingly comfortable. She allowed a contented sigh to escape as she cuddled the girl that was once her enemy.

"Besides," Weiss finally said, feeling simultaneously awkward and content, "We might still make it home."

"I'm not sure if that makes it easier or harder."

* * *

"It's gonna be so weird," Ruby said suddenly to her sister, rolling over in her bed.

"Huh?"

"It's gonna be so weird after you graduate and Weiss graduates and Blake graduates," she explained. "I mean, if we get stuck here, you're going to be looking for jobs and going out in the world and stuff and I'm still gonna be at school."

Quickly, she added, "Not that it's a bad thing, I mean, it has to happen, and it was going to, but then we went to Beacon together, and now we're here together and then we're going to be apart again."

"Aw, not really, Rubes," her sister replied soothingly. "I mean, yeah, we're going to be doing different stuff, but it's not like we're going to leave the city. At least, I don't think I'm going to leave the city."

After a contemplative pause, Ruby asked, "What are you going to do after you graduate?"

Yang shook her head. "I don't know."

"Have you thought about it? A lot of places here you have to sign up for early if you want to go there."

"I've thought about it, but nothing really jumps out at me. I mean, I haven't changed that much I don't think, but careers and stuff are all different here and I don't know what I can do."

"You can do anything you want," her sister encouraged.

"Yeah, I just don't know what that is right now-"

"This is so weird," Ruby said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"We're talking about what you're going to do after graduating, on another planet, even though you've already graduated and started huntress training at home," the younger girl tried to explain. "Life's so weird sometimes."

"Yeah, it has gotten weird, hasn't it?" A pause. "Goodnight, Rubes."

"Night, sis."

* * *

**Jlargent**: I thought about it, but I'm not familiar with these games and I don't have time to make myself familiar with them. In general, I wanted to do a lot more with the girls experiencing various aspects of Earth culture, but it's very difficult and time-consuming to write.

**Epic Zealot Productions 2.0**: Hold that thought.

**TehUnoman**: I do have plans that are more complex and messier than that, but that's all I want to say for now.

**animal56**: I've already hinted at Weiss' ship. And Convergence will be... complicated.

**GreatWyrmGold**: Sanity is relative. Probably four chapters after this one, plus minus an epilogue.

**PrinceLarkin**: I understood the crushed pelvis one, but the other one was a bit obtuse. I have played Portal 2, so now that you've explained it, it clicks.

**Guest**: Gemstone and associated groups are currently the closest thing to XCOM. If an actual shooting war breaks out, it wouldn't be a small secret group. Everyone with a vested interest will have working groups tasked to Remnan threats, some overt and some covert.


	35. The Last Minute

There might actually be four chapters after this. Prom chapter, bridge chapter, grad chapter, celebration chapter. I'm going to try to keep up the pace of two a week which will leave a few weeks of hiatus between the end of Aliens Among Us and the beginning of Convergence.

Writing the prom arc is going to be interesting. I didn't have a prom- it's universal in the United States, but not in Canada.

See if you can spot the cut arcs by the bits left in this chapter.

* * *

**35: The Last Minute**

"I can't believe you guys are graduating so soon," Ruby gushed to Weiss as they left Military History. Yang and Blake had run off to the library for some reason that the crimsonette couldn't be bothered to listen to, leaving them alone. "I mean, there's not many weeks of school left, then you're done! And prom is only a week away."

"Yes, well..."

Suddenly, the younger girl asked, "Are we still partners, Weiss?"

"Of course," she answered automatically.

"Are you sure?"

"We've gone through too much together to split apart now," Weiss replied. "And no matter who we meet or where we go, we'll always be, in a way, all we have left."

"Aww..." With only that as a warning, Ruby suddenly half-tackled her partner into a bone-crushing hug.

"Get off of me, you dolt!" she shrieked.

The crimsonette released her. "Sorry."

They continued toward the cafeteria for a while before Ruby piped up again, "What were you going to say?"

"Huh?"

"After I told you prom is only a week away?"

"Well, after we graduate, I don't know where I'm going to go," she admitted. "I always had my future set out for me, and becoming a huntress was almost an escape. I was going to go into business, but it reminds me too much of what I almost became."

"So, do something completely different," Ruby proposed. "Why don't you go into game development?"

"Game development?" She would admit that one was completely unexpected.

"Well, you play them a lot," the crimsonette replied. "And I know you're smart enough to do it."

"I guess. I just never thought of it before."

"Did you even look, Weiss?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"So go and look!" Ruby said loudly. Noticing a contemplative expression on her partner's face, she suddenly asked, "What else is bothering you?"

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing."

"It's silly."

"It's not silly. Probably not."

"I don't have a date for the prom, and I have no idea who to ask!" Weiss admitted. "I didn't really make friends like you or Yang."

"I don't think Blake has a date either," Ruby told her with a wink before running off.

"Ruby! Ruby?"

* * *

"Linda Yang Anderson, will you be my date for the prom?"

"Sure."

Gavin stepped back, a slightly confused look on his face. "That's it?"

The blonde grinned at him. "Doesn't have to be hard. We _are_ dating, you know. See you Monday."

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

"More Global Offensive?" Blake asked casually from behind her laptop.

Weiss shook her head, waiting for her own to boot up. "No, I'm sick of it. I think I'm going to try Mass Effect."

"I thought that was an RPG," she pointed out, knowing the the heiress rarely played anything but multiplayer shooters.

"It is, but Ruby won't keep bugging me about it," the former heiress replied. "Say, Blake, you've been on your laptop an awful lot lately. Did you start playing something."

The cat faunus shook her head, "No, I've been working on my book a lot lately."

Weiss looked up in surprise. "When did you start writing a book?"

"Over the Christmas break. I've only been working on it here and there until recently, though."

"What's it about?"

"It's a kind of sci-fi," Blake recited. "It's about a world where there are two races with trivial differences, one of them subjugated by the other. It's a dangerous world full of monsters and everyone has abilities kind of like ours. The story is about one of the subjugated people, a teenaged girl who runs away from the life of labour set out for her. She meets another girl- a love interest- who's on the other side and kind of like her and that's pretty much all I've got planned right now."

"That sounds suspiciously familiar," Weiss pointed out.

Blake shrugged. "It may be inspired by real events."

"Is it also an erotica?" the former heiress asked, aware of her teammate's taste in novels.

Hesitantly, she answered, "Not entirely."

"Of course it is."

Uncomfortable, Blake changed the topic, "Any luck getting a prom date?"

Her teammate shook her head. "I don't even know who to ask. What about you?"

"I haven't even thought about it," Blake replied quietly. "I'm not sure if I want to go, to be honest."

"Blake, we've been over this. You need to get out-"

"No, _we_ haven't," she replied evasively. "You're talking about something that never happened. Happens."

"I know but... Prom is a big thing, Blake," Weiss told her softly. "You should go."

"I don't have anyone to go with," she protested.

"Well," the white-haired girl proposed slowly, "We could go... together. As friends."

"Isn't that a bit strange?" Blake asked. "For this world, I mean."

"A little, but not the weirdest thing that's happened." She shrugged. "Besides, there's one more reason for it."

"What?"

"I think Ruby and maybe Yang is trying to hook us up," Weiss admitted.

Blake nodded. "Oh, I know they are. So?"

The former heiress smirked, "So why not humour them?"

* * *

Physics class always left Ruby with mixed feelings. She found the content very interesting- most of it was things she knew but never really understood before- but found the math brutal and exhausting. Part of that was her fault- it was recommended that students finish Pre-Calculus 11 before taking Physics and she was doing grade 10 math at the same time. Wearily, she extracted her physics textbook from her backpack and shoved it into her messy locker.

"I can't believe they expect me to carry these," a familiar voice complained, clearly audible in the rapidly emptying halls.

She shut her locker, making sure the lock was secure, before turning to the source of the voice. "Hi Connor!"

The boy was closing a storage closet and locking it, a pair of large powered speakers beside him. Ruby motioned to them. "Whatcha doing with those?"

"Oh, the AV club is setting up for the prom tomorrow," Connor answered, leaning against one of the speakers.

Ruby was surprised. "We have an AV club?"

The boy shrugged. "It's not like a club that meets and stuff, it's more like a bunch of people with similar interests that does stuff sometimes."

He sighed. "And of course they get the wimpiest guy to carry the speakers.

"Well, I've got to text my- friends first, but then I'll help you with them." Ruby pulled her phone out, typed out a quick message, and sent it. Texting hadn't been much of a transition for her- only the details were different from what they had on Remnant.

"Thanks, Ruby," Connor said. He awkwardly picked up one speaker with both hands while the crimsonette effortlessly picked up the other with one.

She waved it off with her free hand. "It's fine."

"You're, um, really muscular," Connor said awkwardly, noticing his girlfriend's well-defined musculature for the first time. "That's, uh, supposed to be a compliment."

Ruby smiled widely at him. "Thanks! I've been trying to work out more to keep myself in shape. I guess it's working."

They walked a few paces before Connor noted, "So... it's gonna be weird seeing my brother tomorrow."

"You're going to be there?" Ruby asked, surprised. "I didn't think they allowed guests."

He shook his head. "AV club. I'm going to be doing the music. You can come too if you want."

She thought about that for a moment. "Okay."

"Great, it'll be fun." After an abrupt pause, the boy asked, "Your sister is graduating too, right?"

"Yeah," she replied. "It's weird for me, too. Yang and I have always been together. And we've lived with Weiss and Blake for a while too and it's gonna be so weird to see them move on."

"Maybe I shouldn't ask, but are you going to have to like move out or get new... housemates or something?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I think they're going to stick around for a while, at least until I graduate. But they'll be moving on with their lives ahead of me."

His reply was positive but awkward. "Well, that's nice... I think."

They continued in silence past another wing of the school. Connor broke the silence again. "Hey, do you have any ideas for music? We, uh, don't really know what people listen to."

"A few." Ruby turned and pushed open the door to the gym, holding it open before following Connor inside. "I don't really know much about music either."

"That's okay, we have the Internet." Connor unceremoniously dropped his speaker on the floor, massaging his sore arms. "Oh, and if there are any songs you want to sneak in..."

She grinned. "I have a few."

* * *

**GreatWyrmGold**: MOBAs sound too grindy for me. I used to enjoy such things, but I just don't have the time anymore. Now I just want to jump in and play- the only thing that will make me invest a lot of time is story. As for Cinder, well, she's welcome to try.

**winxfan808**: I actually feel like I'm pushing out these chapters late, because I'm already done for the year, but I guess the timing does just about line up for high school. I do feel the breakup was too hasty and I would have liked to develop their relationship more, but I just didn't have the time. The arc was actually meant to be much earlier but kept getting delayed. As for Convergence, I think your guess is way off, but we'll see.

**mastermind**: College is a more specific term in Canada that generally refers to small, local institutions that do not grant degrees (though some now do so). What Americans generally think of as colleges are referred to explicitly as universities here. As for RWBY, the short answer is that they do not know yet.


	36. Prom Night

This is really uncharted territory for me here, and it took an embarrassingly long time to write. It's still far from perfect, but I tried.

* * *

**36: Prom Night**

"This is it," Gavin said, a hint of trepidation in his voice. He brought his borrowed car to a stop.

"This is it," Yang echoed, stepping out of the vehicle. The parking lot was full and well lit, and other attendees were streaming toward the school gym.

Gavin followed her, pausing to enjoy the view. Yang wore a long, tight pale yellow strapless dress that stopped just short of her ankles. Her characteristic oddly bright (yet supposedly natural) hair was brushed into some semblance of straightness and left loose, cascading down her back. A pair of short gold heels completed the outfit and brought her slightly above Gavin's height. "Did I ever tell you how stunning you look?"

"A few times." She leaned in and winked at her boyfriend as she adjusted his bow tie. "You don't look so bad yourself."

"Are your friends coming?" he asked.

"They're probably already here." She motioned toward the gym. "Come on, we only get one prom, so let's have fun."

Gavin took her hand in his own, quickly moving to follow. "I couldn't agree more."

* * *

"I'm still not sure how you managed to get us a limo," Blake commented as the vehicle in question pulled to a stop.

"I have connections," Weiss replied evasively as the driver opened the door for them. "After you."

"We have the same connections." Blake deftly stepped out of the vehicles on her flats. Those had been a compromise- if she had worn the heels she originally wanted to wear, she would have been half a foot taller than her date. The knee-length black dress had been her choice, however. Figuring out how to cover her ears in a visually appealing manner had been difficult- eventually, they settled on a small, narrow-brimmed hat made of black felt and trimmed in purple.

"I asked nicely." Weiss followed her out, equally sure-footed despite her much taller heels. Her dress was slightly longer and pure white, with cobalt blue accents. The choice of colours had confused Blake before she explained that cobalt blue was her sister's colour. She still had no idea how that was relevant and didn't ask. Along with the dress, she had a pair of white silk opera gloves that came up to her shoulders.

Her date couldn't help but scoff. "You? Asked nicely?"

"What? Why is that hard to believe? I used to do that all the time, except we didn't call it-"

Blake shushed her, cat ears twitching under her hat. She motioned toward a group of boys sitting on a pickup truck. "They're saying nasty things about us."

Weiss turned on her heel. "What are they saying?"

"Just ignore them," Blake urged her, regretting mentioning it. "I don't want to start a fight in the parking lot, not tonight."

The former heiress sighed, taking one of Blake's hands in her own. "You're right. Let them be intolerant. We're going to enjoy tonight."

* * *

The inside of the gym was calm and surprisingly mature. The gym was barely recognizable as such, with the walls decorated, floor covered, and new furniture lining the room. Most people were milling around a line of buffet tables, with some taking seats and a few brave souls approaching the dance floor. A pair of younger students sat behind the DJ booth, and several teachers were in attendance in addition to the few hundred soon to be graduating students.

Overall, the atmosphere was calm and surprisingly mature. Many of the attendees, of course, realized that the atmosphere would change as people started to loosen up.

Once he was reasonably sure that most of the attendees were present, the principal of the school stepped out, microphone in hand. "Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the 2015 prom- no, _your_ 2015 prom. I'm so everyone wants to start their night right away, so I'll keep this short.

"For many of you, this will be your last school event. Soon you will be making the difficult yet interesting transition into adulthood, leaving this school and moving on with your lives. This is your night, so enjoy it!"

There was a chorus of polite applause, and he waited for it to subside. He did not catch Weiss whisper to Blake about how awful an orator was in comparison to Ozpin.

"Oh, and one more thing." He paused. "Tonight's Prom King and Prom Queen. Please stand up, Darrel Fletcher and Vicki Lee!"

There was another round of clapping as the couple stood and waved, smiling at the crowd. Some smiled back, some gave them dirty looks, some barely took notice. As the students began to mingle, the principal took the opportunity to slink away, leaving them to their own devices.

* * *

"Have you eaten yet?" Yang asked Gavin as they proceeded toward the buffet.

He nodded. "Yeah."

She chuckled. "Well, I haven't. You're going to have to wait while I stuff my face."

"That's alright." As his girlfriend began to amass a large pile of food on a plate, he looked around. Very quickly, he spotted a familiar pair. "Is that Weiss and Blake?"

Yang dropped another burnt breadstick on her plate and looked up. "Yeah."

"Did they go as a couple?"

"Uh-huh." She looked at the breadsticks for a moment before moving on to the tortilla chips. "Don't tell them, but I've been trying to hook them up with each other for weeks."

"Really?" Gavin asked, surprised. "I didn't know they were, well, you know, lesbian."

She shook her head with a wry smile. "It's a long story. Come on, let's go bother them."

With her plate now full, Yang led her boyfriend toward the table where her two teammates were sitting. Like her, they had not had dinner, and were in the process of eating food that looked better than what was on her plate. Or more tasteful, anyway.

Weiss greeted her formally. "Good evening, Yang."

Setting down the plate of food on the table with one hand, she slapped her teammate roughly on the back with the other. "Come on, lighten up, ice queen."

Gavin stood awkwardly before being pulled down beside his girlfriend, across from the other two. "So... I didn't know you two were dating."

"We're just going as friends," Blake insisted.

He gave them a knowing wink. "Sure you are."

"Do you mind?" Weiss snapped.

Yang laughed heartily between bites. "Come on, enjoy your date."

"We are not on a date."

"Kind of a date."

Blake looked at her... date. "It is kind of a date."

"Well, I'll leave you to it," Yang said, standing up.

Gavin smirked at them. "Whatever it is you're doing, have fun."

"Do you know how to dance?" Yang asked her boyfriend. She picked up a napkin and wiped her hands with it.

Gavin shook his head. "Not really."

"Well, fortunately for you, I do." Yang tossed the napkin carelessly away before grabbing her boyfriend and literally dragging him toward the dance floor.

* * *

"Do you want to try dancing?" Weiss asked her date after their loud teammate had left.

She chewed her lip. "I don't know. I mean, I don't really know how to dance."

The former heiress glared at her. "Yes you do. That excuse won't work."

She sighed. "I don't want to draw attention to myself... to us. I feel awkward here. I mean, everyone else has normal dates."

"Normal?"

"Normal in the context of Earth."

"Blake..." The former heiress paused. "Nobody really cares. Not many people are looking at you, and those that do probably won't think anything of it. One of the strangest things I had to get used to was that nobody is looking at me anymore. So just... ignore them, and enjoy yourself."

"You're right, that's-"

"Hello, Anna, Bella- I'm sorry, Blake," Vicki greeted, holding the hand of a tall, sturdy but handsome boy. A plastic crown sat atop her head. "I didn't realize you would be going together. Or, well, that you're, you know-"

"We're just friends," Blake said again. Realizing that her hand had somehow made its way around Weiss' slim waist, she quickly pulled it back.

"Right, sure," Vicki replied, rolling her eyes. She gave them a knowing smile. "Enjoy your night."

"Why does everyone think we're a couple?" Blake asked her date as the couple left and headed for the dance floor.

Weiss shrugged. She held out her hand. "Come on, Blake. Let's dance."

Reluctantly, the cat faunus took the former heiress's hand and allowed her to lead them toward the dance floor.

From behind the DJ booth, a familiar face gave them a wink before clicking on her microphone and making an announcement. "This is for a very special couple in the room- I think you know who you are. It's your time to SHINE!"

"She planned this," Weiss hissed in her date's ear as the familiar song began to play. She offered her hand to Blake, who took it and pulled her into position.

The tune sounded vaguely familiar to Blake's ears. "A Remnan song?"

"Yes- well, not exactly." Weiss replied after a moment, rocking her date back and forth before pushing her out. She pushed inward, turning around her partner. "Ray of Light, Aureo Zon. On Remnant."

The cat faunus allowed her date to lead, following along in the tristep swing. "You remember that?"

"She was my singing coach. Briefly." Weiss stepped forward, switching hands and spinning her partner. "My father greatly disliked her... eccentricities."

"Oh?" Blake found it difficult to make conversation while following along in the intense dance.

Weiss had a lot more practice and didn't suffer as much from that issue. She replied as she spun Blake around, "She was what might be called a free spirit... or a stoner deadbeat."

Another spin. "It's funny. My father said she'd never be anything but a failed prodigy, and now she's famous. Figures."

"So, what's the point?" Blake asked, referring to the story in general. "Being wild is good? Your father can be wrong?"

Somehow, she managed to shrug without totally ruining the dance. "No, I just felt like sharing."

They continued in silence, focusing on their intense moves. At one point, Weiss pulled her partner off her feet, briefly holding Blake in her surprisingly strong arms and earning a blush and a stutter in response. The song ended too quickly, and they found themselves walking off the dance floor, arm in arm.

* * *

Yang laughed as her boyfriend stumbled off the dance floor. "You really don't know how to dance, do you?"

"No, I thought about taking lessons but I didn't want to spend the money," he replied, still dizzy from the awkward stepping. "I didn't think you knew how to dance either."

She winked at him, leaning closer. "You might be surprised at what I'm capable of."

He matched the move. "Is that a challenge?"

Slowly, they moved closer, leaning forward until they could feel each other and their lips almost touched-

"Get a room, you two!" a rude voice interrupted. Startled, the couple quickly backed away and glared at the source of the interruption.

"Aaron, what the fuck?" Yang snapped at the boy.

He laughed loudly. "Just wanted to let you two lovebirds know that kitty cat and ice queen over there are definitely more than friends. In fact, I think they're going to kiss tonight, or maybe even have-"

Gavin glared at him. "Aaron, how much punch did you drink?"

"Quite a bit, I like punch."

"You know it's been _repeatedly spiked_, right?"

Aaron had a blank expression on his face for a moment as he thought about it. "Oh. Well... shit."

He stumbled off toward somewhere else, and Gavin turned back to his girlfriend, taking her hands in his own. "Where were we?"

Yang leaned in. "About here, I think."

* * *

"So, did you enjoy your night?" an enthusiastic voice chirped. Ruby strolled out into the parking lot, half-dragging a half-asleep Connor with her. "Guys?"

"Not so loud," Weiss complained to her partner. She turned to Blake. "What was in that punch, anyway?"

"Well, I'm sure somebody spiked it, and I'm sure more than one person had the same idea," the cat faunus replied. She had only had a few glasses of punch, yet could already feel the effects.

"Well?" Ruby asked, impatiently.

"It was amazing," Yang told her, still holding on to her boyfriend.

"It was... interesting," Blake said, reserved. She began to half lead, half pull her tipsy date toward the other end of the parking lot.

"It was pretty good," Weiss added. "I didn't know Blake was a good kisser. And she doesn't have sandpaper tongue. Sorry, is that racist?"

"Just ignore her," Ruby told Gavin and his brother. "So, uh, about Connor-"

Gavin grabbed his little brother, taking him from Ruby's arms. "Well, looks like my little bro's burned out. Hey, Yang, are you going to be my date for grad, too?"

She nodded, waving as she headed for the opposite end of the parking lot. "You betcha. See you tomorrow."

"Oh, and Ruby, thanks for taking care of my brother!" he called as an afterthought.

Almost at the other end of the lot, the crimsonette turned and waved back. "No problem! Thanks for taking care of my sister!"

* * *

**Krazyfanfiction1**: Yes, but Convergence is coming.

**GreatWyrmGold**: I have friends that play MOBAs- they play a lot more games than me, actually. I haven't really looked at any institutions outside of BC- we have some pretty nice ones here. But the possibility is... no comment.

**Firehawk242**: Really what?

**mastermind**: It depends which part of the country. Where I live doesn't get cold at all; it's a very moderate coastal climate. As for the military, it's a lot more complicated than that.

**THECAL0099**: For various reasons, no.

There are two more chapters left after this, then an epilogue. After that, approximately a month of hiatus, and then Convergence will launch. Convergence will be a lot more like Emergence than Aliens Among Us, and it will answer a lot of the questions people have been asking but I haven't been able to answer.


	37. The Big Day

This is the second to last chapter, not counting the epilogue. Although there's plenty of story I could have told, I'm starting to feel fatigued by this story and I want to move on to other things, so this is a good time to end it.

I barely remember my graduation ceremony. Has it been that long? I guess it has. If parts of the ceremony seem off, that's why. As usual, I suck at speeches, so my characters kind of do too.

* * *

**37: The Big Day**

"I can't believe you're graduating already!" Ruby shouted, squashing her sister in a tight hug. "Again."

"Again," she echoed quietly, completely ignoring her ruffled dress as she hugged her sister back. "Doesn't feel like it."

"It's different this time," Ruby replied as they separated. "It's like we're doing school all over again, except it's different this time. Anyway, you should start moving because you don't want to be late."

"Yeah, you're right." She turned and started heading for the assembly hall. "I've got a date to catch."

"Oh, I got a new camera, so I'll take lots of pictures!" Ruby shouted after her. She turned to her other teammates. "So, are you two- aww, that's so cute!"

"What? What is?" Weiss asked, unconsciously taking a step back from the faunus.

"You were holding hands."

"Oh," Blake replied, feigning boredom. "We do that now."

"So are you two _together_ now?"

"I guess so, yeah."

Without warning, Ruby grabbed both of them and squished them together in something resembling a hug. "I'm so happy for you! Have fun at grad!"

* * *

"Welcome to the grad ceremony, everyone," the principal's wavering voice called, amplified insufficiently by the public address system. "I know this is an exciting night for all of us, so I'll start my speech now so we can do the ceremony thing."

"This speech is going to be really bad, isn't it?" Yang whispered to the girl beside her.

"It's Powell," the other girl, a brunette with an expensive-looking dress, replied. "Good principal, but fucking horrible at talking. Of course it'll be bad."

"Uh... graduating represents a great milestone in our lives. This is, I think, more than any moment, when we go from children to adulthood. It's an important moment. A moment to dismember- I mean remember. This is it.

"It's been a journey to go from when you entered this school- for most of you that was four- no, wait, six now- years ago, but for some of you that may have been more or less. And now we're here, on the verge of going from school to not school. And wow. A lot of events have transpired between the years.

"As a school, as a class, we've all come together. We are one community in one school, even though some people here may have come from places that are really far away. Everyone can say, yes they went to this school, made friends, had a great time, and graduated. As principal of this school, I'm proud to present the graduating class of 2015 and send them on their way."

Yang turned to her right and shared a quizzical look with Gavin.

"Okay, with that being said, I'll turn it over to the valedictorian to do his speech now." The audience politely clapped, more for the sharply dressed student taking the stage than the principal's attempt at a moving speech.

"He's much better," Gavin whispered to Yang. "Scott actually knows how to talk."

"Good evening, everyone. I'm sure you all know me, but if you've been living under a rock, I'm Scott, your friendly neighbourhood valedictorian. I know you don't want to here me ramble- we have the principal for that- so I'll keep this short."

He paused to allow a round of polite laughter and not so polite shouting.

"What can I say? I've only been here three years, longer than some of you but shorter than others, and I've had an incredible time. We've come so much and so much has happened over those years, in our personal lives, at school, everywhere. When we came in, we were clueless and confused- not to mention a lot smaller. And now, yeah, maybe we don't know where we're going, but we've gained the skills and the confidence to get there, even if we don't know it.

"Look around. We're all different. We come from different backgrounds- with different birthplace, race, religion, social status, and upbringing. Even here, we're all different. Some of us are math nerds, some of us are athletes, some of us are really into drama. And when we step out the door, we'll all be going our separate ways- to college, to university, straight into the workforce, maybe out into the world to travel. But we all have one thing in common, which is graduating from this fine school. Thank you."

* * *

"Linda Anderson."

It took a moment for Yang to process the call and realize that her name- her alias, anyway- being called. She stepped out of the line and toward the centre of the stage, a broad smile on her face. She tried to find Ruby in the crowd, but couldn't pick her sister out in the packed auditorium. Instead, she waved in the general direction of where she hoped the energetic crimsonette was.

"Congratulations, Linda," the principal said, handing Yang her diploma and shaking her hand. He sounded canned, but she couldn't really blame him- they had a lot of students to go through. They posed for the cameras for a moment.

Yang couldn't help but feel like she'd done it before, but it still felt significant. Symbolic of a huge transition. She knew what it meant already- sort of. This was over and she had no idea what the future held- but that was fine with her.

With one last wave, she strode off the stage.

* * *

"Bella Blake."

Blake began to move toward the front of the stage. She had already anticipated the call, knew her name was next. A thin smile crossed her face, far from Yang's hilarious grin but better than some of the sad, forced smiles she had seen earlier.

"Congratulations, Bella." She could tell the principal was getting tired of handing out diplomas, and she couldn't blame him. He'd probably done it for hundreds of students already, and he'd probably done it for years before. She took the diploma and shook his hand, the grip disappointingly weak in her own, posing for the camera and hoping Ruby would take the pictures she promised.

It was different for her, Blake knew. This was when most left the controlled, safe environment of high school and moved out into the dangerous, uncertain world. But she had already been there. Two different worlds, even. Still, she had to admit to herself that things would get a lot more complicated after this, especially for her.

She pushed the thoughts out of her head and smiled at the crowd one last time before stepping off the stage.

* * *

"Anna Weiss."

With her name near the end of the alphabet, Weiss was one of the last students to walk across the stage. Her years of grooming were not forgotten. Without even realizing it, she straightened her posture and strutted toward the front of the stage. She gave one polite, practised wave and put on a smile that was halfway between real and fake.

"Congratulations, Anna." The principal was clearly very tired at this point, and delivered his line in a very drab monotone, his smile both tired and artificial. If he treaded in the same social circles she once did, he would be eaten alive.

But he wasn't, she wasn't, and neither of them cared. Weiss took her diploma graciously, shaking the man's hand and pausing to allow photos to be taken. She could taste the freedom that came with it- and the trepidation. Soon, she would be headed out into a very strange world, without anything that should have come with the life she was supposed to leave. She would be both free and lost.

Soon, but not today. She smiled at the audience one last time before leaving the stage.

* * *

"So..." Gavin muttered to no one in particular, one arm around his girlfriend. Weiss stood in front of them, with Aaron and Blake awkwardly close to each other on their left.

"We're done," Yang replied.

"Actually, we technically don't graduate until we pass our exams," Weiss told them. She motioned to her diploma- or rather, what she had previously thought was a diploma. "This? This isn't real."

The other grads glared at her. She crossed her arms and glared back. "What?"

"Just let us have our victory, Weiss," Yang told the former heiress.

"Doesn't feel like a victory," Aaron groused.

Yang shrugged. "I mean, everything changes after this, maybe, but we've still made it through high school, accomplished something. That's a victory."

"Could be short lived," Aaron added.

"Just call it a victory and stop being so fucking depressing," Gavin told his friend, tone light but with a cautionary tinge. "Hey, you guys are coming to the party tomorrow, right?"

"Uh..."

Yang cut her partner off. "Yep! One last crazy high school party, right guys?"

"I guess."

"I suppose."

"Sure."

"You guys are depressing today," Gavin complained. "Tomorrow, you're all loosening up and having fun. I'm serious. One last crazy high school party."

"And the day after?" Weiss asked.

"Who the hell knows?"

* * *

ODST110: I often feel the same way writing this fic, which is why I feel it's time to end it even though I could have pushed back Convergence and slotted another arc or two in. I barely remember my last year of high school, to be honest. It wasn't horrible, but it was pretty stressful.

Firehawk242: I feel Shine works the best out of all the songs for Monochrome in this context.

GreatWyrmGold: It was a pretty sparse chapter- I just didn't have many ideas for it. I don't count the epilogue as a chapter, so it's an even 38 to me, which is quite a nice number in my opinion.

Happy1K1nob1: Yep. I could have made this fic longer, but see the author's note at the beginning of the chapter. I think someone's already postulated something similar- perhaps you should try to seek them out.

BbK2442: They've been edging closer since before spring break. Most of it is unclear or offscreen because I have no idea how to write romance.

Tatopatato: The funny thing is that I didn't actually set it up that way on purpose- I've hinted at White Rose and Bumblebee earlier in the fic. But Connor turned into a love interest for Ruby (Gavin was always intended as a love interest for Yang). Because of this, I started bouncing Weiss and Blake off each other while the other two were busy, and I decided that I liked the result and it could go somewhere.

AnonymousReading: It will get VERY interesting in Convergence. But they're very much together now, and even before the prom they'd been edging toward a date but too nervous to actually try.

winxfan808: Reviewing every two chapters is pretty frequent considering the update rate of this fic. I think the biggest difference between this and Emergence is that it's primarily character-driven rather than plot-driven, and Convergence will be much more plot-driven. There's also a sense of tension and adventure that I feel this story lacks, which I hope to bring back in Convergence. In short, this fic was all about developing the characters as you've said, but Convergence is all about the bigger picture.


	38. Celebrating Victory

So this is it. The final chapter. The end of Aliens Among Us. The I don't know how well this works as a final chapter, to be honest. It doesn't show every character, and it doesn't have the air of finality I was shooting for. I'm hoping the epilogue will do a decent job of wrapping things up.

It's planned for release this Friday. Convergence, the real sequel, won't be out until some time in July (I hesitate to commit to any date), but there will be a few Asides between now and then.

* * *

**38: Celebrating Victory**

"Isn't this Vicki's mansion?" Yang asked as they approached the venue. From the street, they could hear music and voices, and the house was lit up brightly, with a few lights even strung across the fence. She answered her own question. "Yep. Vicki's mansion."

"I hope her parents are okay with it," Weiss commented, looking around. "And I hope we don't get arrested."

"Oh, hi, Anna!" Vicki greeted, waving them inside. She cocked her head and told them, "Don't worry, my parents are in Hong Kong and the cops won't bug us."

"Are you drunk?" Weiss asked bluntly, noticing her flushed cheeks.

"I'm tipsy." She giggled. "It's not the same. I haven't had enough to be drunk."

Weiss motioned to the glass in the girl's hand. "Yet. You will be drunk if you keep drinking."

Vicki waved it off and waved at Blake. She leaned uncomfortably close to the former heiress. "So, are the rumours true? Are you and Bella-"

Blake answered for the both of them, irritated. "Yes. We're together."

"Wow! I didn't realize you two were lesbians!"

Both of them glared at Vicki, and she shirked back. "Sorry, I'm leaving now."

"Well, that was weird," Yang commented from behind them. "I'm going to go find Gavin. You two lovebirds go have fun."

* * *

Gavin was sitting on a lawn chair, enjoying his Bud beside the currently-drained pool when he suddenly felt a heavy- and warm- weight on his back. Some drunk idiot fell on him. He began turning to the source, a glare etched on his face. "What the- Yang?"

"Hey," she whispered into his ear before sliding back to sit beside him.

"You're heavy," Gavin commented, both because he was drunk and because he knew his odd girlfriend wouldn't take offence. Well, mostly because he was drunk.

"I am. It's because of all of these muscles." She flexed, and he had to admit it was pretty impressive for a girl of her stature.

He handed her an open bottle of beer. "You're also late."

"Fashionably late." She sighed. "Weiss had to finish her match. Ended up losing it anyway."

Gavin laughed. "Quite the gamer, huh. Is that all she does?"

"That, and try to figure out how to make them."

Gavin raised an eyebrow. "She's looking at game development now?"

"Yeah," the blonde replied, sipping on the alcoholic brew. "She says she's lousy at art so she's going to approach it from the code direction, but I've never seen her program anything before. Although the spinny cube was apparently pretty hard."

The spinny cube didn't sound terribly impressive, but Gavin knew that computer code was ridiculously complicated and much harder than it looked. "When'd she start?"

"A few weeks ago," Yang replied. "When Weiss latches on to something, she just gives it. It's kind of scary sometimes."

He nodded. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Where are you going in September?"

She sighed a deep sigh, leaning into her boyfriend. Quietly, she responded, "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"Are they going to kick you out once you turn nineteen?" he asked. He'd heard horror stories of wards of the state ending up on the street after they grew up, cut off from the services they relied on.

She shook her head. "No, I'm covered for a while. But I do need to move on eventually. It's not easy for me."

"It's not easy for anyone, but yeah, it's probably worse for you," Gavin admitted. "If it's paid for, you could just go to university, piss around with general studies for a couple years. Not a great suggestion, but you could. Or just get a job."

"I don't even know where to start," Yang said. She leaned back slightly. "What about you?"

"I'm going into trades, going to become an electrician," he replied, slightly sheepishly. Was it the alcohol? "BCIT, already registered, already accepted. I don't know what day I'm starting, but it's some time in September."

"That's good." They leaned against each other, feeling themselves breathe in sync for a long moment.

Yang interrupted it. "What if it doesn't work out?"

Gavin shrugged, feeling his girlfriend follow the motion. "You know, I'm not going to lie, it could go bad. It's gonna be one hell of a transition and maybe I won't make it. Or maybe it'll be too hard, or I'll hate it. But for now, that's where I'm going. And if it doesn't work, I'll try something else."

Yang leaned against him, closer this time, with one hand around his neck. She grinned, locking her artificially blue eyes with his natural ones. "Wise words of a wise man."

* * *

"Hey, Blake!"

Blake's ears twitched under her cap. For a moment, she considered not responding to Aaron. But although it had been in a very odd context, they had parted peacefully, and he probably just wanted to talk. What was the harm in it?

She shared a look with Weiss before parting, heading toward the tipsy young man leaning against the far wall.

"I thought I saw the hat," Aaron said, already slurring his words. "I thought I saw it twitch. I know who you really are, Blake Belladonna."

Her response wasn't a direct rebuttal. "I know you're drunk."

"Come on, it makes sense," he insisted. "You came here- I'm still not sure how you made it into school- but you came here, probably not on purpose, living under false identities, pretending to be like us. Trying to find your way home. Like some shitty-"

Blake crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Are we really doing this again?"

"Sorry, I'm just drunk. Sad and drunk," Aaron stated with a shrug. He really did lose most of his capacity for speech when he was drunk, didn't he?

Before Blake could reply, he held up the cup of beer in his hand. "Number six. I'm drunk after two."

She snatched it out of his hands. "You're not drinking to celebrate, are you?"

He laughed darkly. "What's there to celebrate?"

Blake rattled off the typical reasons. "Freedom? Independence? Moving forward?"

He shook his head. "Watching all your friends scatter, being forced to move on and get a job, working wondering why the hell you're doing it getting some pieces of paper that's supposed to mean something, having no idea where to go and nobody to help you? Really worth celebrating."

"You're really depressing when you're drunk," Blake commented. She sighed before trying to offer some form of consolence. "Look, Aaron, you're actually pretty well off. Life could be a lot worse."

"It could also be a hell of a lot better," he retorted. "I'm a fuckup, Blake. How am I supposed to make connections when I embarrass myself half the time I open my mouth? How am I supposed to make it through post-secondary if I can barely get through high school? How am I supposed to get a job when everyone thinks I'm a loser as soon as they see me? How am I supposed to find love when I spent six months chasing a girl because she looks like a fictional character, then dumping her for the same reason? I'm a fuckup."

"Aaron." She gently grasped his chin, forcing him to lock his eyes with her. She was really the wrong person for this- Yang or Ruby or even Weiss were better at motivation. "You're not a fuckup, and that's not how people see you. You're capable of a lot more than you think. You can do it, if you just try."

Unable to come up with anything to follow it, she turned and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Aaron to mull over his thoughts.

* * *

Weiss glared at the girl as she approached again, narrowing her eyes. "I thought you said you were leaving."

"Listen, I'm really sorry about the lesbians comment," Vicki apologized, wringing her hands. "I know some people are sensitive about it and I'm sorry-"

"Do you want something?" the white-haired girl snapped. Old habits die hard, especially after a plastic cup of vile alcohol.

"Oh, not specific, but this is my house so I feel like I should play host, you know?"

Weiss did know, all too well. She answered simply but politely, "I understand."

"So, where'd Blake go?"

"To talk to Aaron." Weiss sipped from her cup of beer, gagging imperceptibly at the revolting taste.

"Hey, weren't they dating for a while?"

"Are you always this inquisitive about our personal lives?" She remained polite, but there was an edge to her voice.

"I'm the gossipy, preppy rich girl. It's who I am." Vicki raised her hands and smirked, but her voice sounded weak, unsure.

"Is it really?"

"While I still can be."

"An act, a facade," Weiss reminded her. She'd known for months, of course, and was a bit surprised that Vicki would outright admit it. "I know better than anyone what that's like."

"You're not actually an orphan from a rich family?" Vicki asked, surprised.

Weiss shook her head, staring into the frothy surface of her beer. "No, that's true. But they weren't exactly the nicest family."

"Oh, so _that_ kind of rich. Don't worry. I won't ask."

Weiss knew what Vicki was really implying, and knew that it wasn't too far off the mark. "I wouldn't answer anyway. So, while we're on the topic, who are you, really?"

The rich girl smiled. "I'm Vicki Lee. I play World of Warcraft, I like hockey, and I have a collection of plushies. My family is well off enough, but racks up debt to appear more impressive. My friends are pretentious little bitches."

And with that, she laughed, a high-pitched, irritating laugh that nonetheless was filled with mirth. "God, that feels good."

"It does. Really damn good." Weiss told her. It had certainly felt good to her when she started to come out as the real Weiss. "I've been addicted to shooters for the past month. I'm playing Battlefield 4 right now, but last week it was CS GO. My friends are great, but weird as hell. I'm not really into sports, but I played football once and managed to tackle one of the football jocks to the ground."

Vicki raised an eyebrow. "Really? Oh, come on, he let you take him down. Probably wanted to get into your pants, not that it would work."

He actually hadn't, but she played along anyway. "His loss."

"So, what are you doing after high school?" the fake rich girl asked the formerly rich girl.

"I'm going into the video game industry," Weiss answered. "I know that sounds strange, but hear me out. When I play these games I see things I could do better. Besides, I'm totally addicted to these things, so if I could make a career out of it, that would be great. And, well, there's a lot of money in it."

"That's really cool," Vicki gushed. "Where are you going to start?"

"I'm not sure yet," the former heiress admitted. "Maybe BCIT- I can do CIT or CST and then do the video game option. I could also do comp sci at SFU or UBC, although that's not as specific. Or I can go to Emily Carr and approach it from the art side- but I'm a lousy artist. You have no idea what I'm saying, do you?"

Vicki laughed. "No, but it sounds like you've got it figured out."

"What about you, Vicki?"

"My parents want me to be a doctor," she said with a shrug. "I thought about it, but I don't really like medicine. I'm thinking about engineering, but I'm not really good at math. I think maybe I'll do general studies for a year, figure out what I want to do. I haven't really thought about it much until now."

"Neither have I," Weiss admitted.

"Well, it was nice talking to you," Vicki said, finishing her beer. "I should go attend to my other guests."

* * *

"So, how's Vicki?" Blake asked, joining her girlfriend and handing her a glass of something sparkling.

"She's a bit drunk," Weiss answered, taking the glass. It alcoholic, but also sweet and pleasantly refreshing compared to the swill she had been drinking. "Wanted to talk about how she's a fake rich girl pretending to be something she isn't."

The cat faunus raised an eyebrow. "Familiar?"

"Familiar, yes, but hardly a revelation," she answered dismissively. "I'm not sure what she actually wants, though."

"Drunken rambling. Terrans do that." Blake sipped from her own glass, letting the bittersweet nectar run over her tongue. "What about you?"

"I definitely prefer just letting loose, if that's the correct expression," Weiss answered ponderously. "But I'm not sure if it's really better for me in the long run."

"Because you're still fighting off a lot of conditioning. You're better off being yourself."

"I suppose," Weiss said, moving closer to Blake. Her nose wrinkled at the smell on her lips. "How much have you been drinking?"

"No comment."

"Blake-"

"Not too much."

Seeing that her girlfriend wouldn't budge, Weiss asked, "Have you seen Yang?"

Blake shrugged. "She went somewhere with Gavin."

Her eyes went wide. "Are they-"

"Who knows? I'm sure Yang can take care of herself." Blake grinned mischievously. "But can you?"

"Blake!"

The cat faunus laughed. "Oh, Weiss, I'm just joking."

"Not funny," Weiss muttered. "It's not her I'm worried about."

"I'm sure they're fine, whatever they're doing."

"Yes, I'm sure," Weiss shook her head, than took Blake's hand. "Do you think you could manage a dance?"

"I can try."

* * *

"So, how was your night?" A boistrous voice asked as a mass placed itself over Weiss and Blake's shoulders. It didn't wait for them to answer. "Mine was _awesome_."

Weiss shrugged out of the embrace. There was no way they would make it through the doorway with a half-drunk Yang on top of them. "I'm happy for you. Please don't elaborate."

She grinned evilly. "What? We just-"

Her partner glared at her. "You heard Weiss. Please. Don't. Elaborate."

"Hey," Gavin said, striding up to them with a half passed out Aaron on one shoulder and Darrel following behind them. He dumped Aaron on Darrel before kissing his girlfriend on the cheek. "Wow. The last party of the last year, huh?"

"Yeah, it feels like the end, doesn't it?" Aaron agreed bitterly.

"Yes and no," Yang reminded them. "We're done high school, but life goes on. We're going to move on to other, greater things. It's not going to be easy, but... uh, we'll do it."

"Well, you almost delivered a motivational speech," Gavin told her. "I'm too drunk for this deep shit."

"Yeah, well, I almost." She laughed, waving as she stepped toward their ride home. "I'm sure we'll all see each other around."

Gavin waved back. "Oh, I guarantee it."

* * *

"Ugh... what the hell happened last night?" Yang groaned, shutting her eyes against the light streaming in through the green drapes of their living room. Her head was pounding and she could barely string two thoughts together; lingering effects of her previous inebriation.

"A wild drunken Terran grad party," a haggard Weiss commented drowsily, stumbling out of the kitchen with a mug of tea.

"Our rite of passage into adulthood," Blake added from the other side of the room. "Which is signalling the end of childhood by washing all our memories away in a haze of intoxication, apparently."

Yang shook her head and immediately regretted the motion. "Eh... I still think the Signal party was worse."

Her partner began to comment, "Well, now that we're done with school, we can move on with-"

"Good morning team RWBY!" the cheerful voice of their leader shouted as a red blur zoomed into the room. "I have an important announcement! Planning of summer activities shall begin today-"

"Do you have to do this today, Rubes?" Yang moaned.

"Yes! School may be over for you, but we're still a team!" Ruby announced, standing on the table. "We're gonna have the best summer ever!"

* * *

**TotoTail**: This fic is done, but Monochrome will be carried over to Convergence.

**Tatopatato**: This one does continue indeed. Emergence was intended to be a series from the very beginning, and I actually have the resolve to carry it through.

**TehUnoman** and ** 055**: It's actually, statistically speaking, fairly likely. I didn't actually intend it this way; I didn't realize I was writing the grad chapters around grad time until others pointed it out to me. I operate on a different schedule now, and my school year was already finished a month ago.

**GreatWyrmGold**: Bad phrasing on my part. It's Vancouver, not Toronto, and the schools are pretty big but not that big. This one is in the 2000-3000 student range. Admittedly, it is a thin chapter- I just didn't know what to write and I am getting tired now. I'm assuming your second paragraph is meant for someone else, because it doesn't seem to be in response to anything I said. 38 isn't significant numerically, but a Stargate stays open for 38 minutes and there is another significance to it that I can't recall right now.

**linkthetoaoftime**: To be honest, I'm pretty lost when it comes to slice-of-life. It's hard to write believable characters in realistic scenarios when I don't really know what people actually do. I can handle sci-fi and military fiction much better, oddly enough.

Last but not least, a few notes on Convergence. It will have three acts: The Interlopers, The Intruders, and The Invaders. I'm not sure about the length of each act, but I think the third will be the longest. I'm going to shoot for longer chapters, but updates will be much slower to give me enough time to juggle this with real life. It'll be plot-driven like Emergence and written more like a techno-thriller, as opposed to this character-driven slice-of-life fic.

As for the plot, well, wait and see, but there are some hints around, and not just in this fic.


	39. Epilogue: Moving On

Depending on your definition of ending, this might be the finale of Aliens Among Us for you. I think this one is more in line with the tone I intended. This is it, this is the end, yet at the same time it isn't.

I wanted to catch a variety of approaches to the uncertainty of graduation, along with the additional complications in RWBY's case. I think some of these passages are much better than others.

There are some notes on Convergence after the review responses at the bottom.

* * *

**Epilogue: Moving On**

_**Gavin**_

It was time to move on.

High school treated me well. I was the football star, the popular guy, got all the ladies, had all the fun, and did well enough. But all through it, there was this niggling little voice that said it wouldn't last, that soon I'd get thrown out of there and into the real world and everything would come crashing down.

That last year, I realized that yes, I was getting thrown out of there, but no, not everything would come crashing down. I wasn't good enough at football to make a life of it, but I realized that wasn't my life anyway. Did I like it? Hell yeah. But not enough to make a life out of it. I'd done a good job preparing- electrician was a good job, I enjoyed that kind of stuff, and I'd probably pay off my student loans within a couple years. It would be okay.

It was more interesting to watch the people around me. Darrel was still hoping for a football scholarship. Maybe he's good enough, maybe not. Aaron turned into a mopey mess. I could tell me brother wasn't looking forward to this, even though I said it would be fine. And then there's Yang, my, well, girlfriend. I mean, we're definitely a couple, but she's not like the flings I had before. I never though I'd like her- she's the exact opposite of what I thought I wanted in a girl- but somehow it just works.

Yeah, high school was over, and I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't miss it. But it's time to move forward, for better or for worse.

_**Yang**_

It felt like I'd already done this.

Last time it had been easier. I knew exactly where I was going to go after Signal and I didn't have to think about it. I still hadn't been sure it was the right choice, but I didn't really think about it too much. There were a lot more choices this time, and I had no idea what I wanted to do. With all the pressure to get it right, I had to force myself to just pick something and go.

I was handling it okay, and I guess my teammates were in their own way, too. School had done a good job of keeping us distracted from our predicament, but now it was done and it was really hitting us that we were _here_. Ruby approached it the same way she did anything, but I knew she'd made finding a way home her mission. Weiss actually seemed to like this place better. Blake had me worried with her moping, but I guess she had a reason. We were all the odd ones out, but she was the only really visible one.

I didn't think we'd go back. I was definitely hoping- I missed Beacon, I missed Dad, I missed Zwei and I missed just about everything about that world. But I knew that it was a long shot, and it could be a while. I had to move on, make the best of this world instead of clinging on to one that was gone.

Maybe the future wasn't as bright as it could have been, but there was a lot to try on this new world. It didn't matter where I was going- I was going somewhere.

_**Aaron**_

Everything was about to go to hell.

An exaggeration? Maybe. But high school was good. Once I found my niche, things got a lot better. I met people, made friends, okay, still didn't get a girlfriend, but it was pretty good overall. At the same time, I felt like there was a lot I hadn't done. Regrets. A feeling of being unfinished, like I'd zipped through an area without doing all the sidequests and now I couldn't go back.

I didn't see a lot of good stuff going forward. I had a few bad choices. I could go to university or college, which is best described as a fuckload of hard work. I could try to get a job, which wasn't easy and I didn't have a lot of skills. Or I could be a hobo, which is obviously a terrible choice. No matter what I did, my friends would scatter, I wouldn't have much time to myself, and it was going to be nothing but work. If I could do it.

Was it that bad? Everyone had to do it, so why was I having so much trouble? I hated myself for that- what made me different? I always came back to the same answer, which was that I'm just overthinking everything. I guess, though, I eventually grew to accept it, if not like it. I would move on, try college, if that didn't work, get a job. It wouldn't be so bad.

I didn't want to move on. I knew I had to, I knew that it wouldn't be as bad as I thought, but I still didn't want to do it.

_**Blake**_

It was not going to be easy going forward.

I had realized very quickly that high school was a very good environment to blend in. Plenty of strange people, many distractions, and an overall attitude of not caring. No one would ask too many questions and I didn't have to answer them. Even with my team raising all kinds of hell, nobody cared too much.

Now that was over, and the future was looking pretty bleak. Where could I go? Everywhere was a risk- a risk of being exposed and crucified for it. I could minimize the risk, hide in the corner and get a job behind a desk, but would that be a life worth living? I already realized I couldn't get too close to anyone here because I wouldn't be able to hide from someone I loved, although that worked out in the end anyway.

Our ruse wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later we'd slip up, someone would find out, and we'd be all over the news. I'd pointed that out, but Ruby brushed it off, Yang didn't have much of an opinion, and Weiss said we could deal with it when it happened. I tried to be optimistic about acceptance versus hate, but I was afraid. What would they think of me? We had to get home before that could happen, but it was next to impossible. I knew I'd have to face it someday.

Objectively, I'd been through far worse situations, but this one was certainly the strangest and most out of context. It would be difficult, but I'd make something of it.

_**Vicki**_

Everything was going to change.

I kind of lied and cheated my way through high school. I was the preppy rich bitch from the beginning, even though I wasn't. I got together with other girls like me- pretending to be something we really weren't. I lied to fit in- who didn't? I wanted to be the popular girl, and I guess I was, but it didn't really set me up for the future.

The future. I'd decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to be the same person once I crossed the stage. I wasn't going to fake my way anymore. It was time to make my way. I wasn't sure where I was going to go, but I wanted to figure it out and get it right. Maybe I was overreacting, countering a sea of lies with an artificial reef of truth, but that was what I wanted to do.

I wasn't quite alone. Most of my supposed friends would either drop contact or were too superficial to care, but I did have Anna. Such a strange girl, but I was happy to call her my friend. I felt a connection with her- not a romantic one, I'm not lesbian- that didn't make a lot of sense. I guess it turns out normal people and even weird people make better friends when you don't push them away.

My life was about to change completely and I knew it. I had no idea how it would go, but I hoped that it would be a good change.

_**Weiss**_

I was looking forward to life here.

I thought Beacon had been one hell of a change compared to being the heiress back in Atlas, but life on Earth put that to shame. Even at Beacon, I was expected to be the heiress, and everyone was watching. On Earth, I was nobody, only a handful of people were watching, and I could be whoever the hell I wanted.

I hadn't even realized what freedom felt like before experiencing it. Making my own damn choices in my own fucking life. I enjoyed video games a lot, so I decided to go into the industry. It was impulsive for sure, and I wondered if I was overcompensating for being so ponderous before. In some ways, my upbringing had done me well, but I still resented it and wanted to get as far away as possible.

The others had mixed feelings, but I really didn't want to go back. I would have to give up everything I valued most. My amazing girlfriend. My dreams of a better life. My peasant tastes. My bad choices. My wild personality. I don't know if I could even be the cold heiress again. I wanted this more than I missed home.

I could stay on this planet. I wanted to stay on this planet, even with the little voice in the back of my head saying everything was wrong.

_**Connor**_

It was going to be weird.

Even though we're really different, Gavin is a good big brother. He was always there in my life. And now he's moving on. I mean, he'll still be at home, probably, but for how long? That's a big disruption in my life, and everyone in my house was feeling it.

And it's not going to be that long before it's me too. After doing Grade 10, that's only two years left in high school, then graduation and doing... something. I still had no idea where I was going to go. I mean, maybe I could try to become a video game designer or go into engineering or something.

Life was already changing. I'd made new friends and lost old ones, and other people were changing. I guess I was, too. Getting out more, being more outgoing, being more independent. Growing up. Part of me was excited to go forward and do that, but part of me was scared and desperately just wanted to keep being a kid. And I felt like I was the only one feeling it, except for...

Ruby. I guess she's my girlfriend now? Funny, I never thought about girls much before except that I kept making them hate me. In a lot of ways she's the girl I've always dreamed of. Cute, but smart and tough. And maybe she's not beautiful to everyone but she's beautiful for me. I think I'm falling for her, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

It was going to a weird summer.

But it was going to be a good summer.

_**Ruby**_

Life on Earth was weird.

Despite my best efforts, we'd got comfortable and replacement. Compared to where we were on Remnant, we got lazy and not fit and started doing a lot of silly things. It was bad. But at the same time, it made sense. We were going in a totally different direction and we didn't have to fight Grimm anymore. Sure, we had our little secret, but that's way different than fighting monsters.

I tried really hard to hold on to getting home soon, but I knew that it maybe wouldn't be that easy. I mean, there are lots of really smart scientists here, and all they had was theories and nothing usable. We could be here a long time, maybe even living long parts of our lives on Earth. Which would kind of suck, but it could be way worse. We couldn't stay hiding forever, and I was scared of what would happen when we couldn't do it anymore, but it would be okay.

And if it wasn't, I'd make it okay.

In the meantime, we had our weird lives. And mine was really weird. With Yang and Blake and Weiss looking at college that left me kind of alone in a way. I mean, they were still there, but pretty soon they wouldn't and we'd be separated again. Literally the last of our kind, we'd pulled together as a team and I would try really hard to keep that together. But I had Connor and his friends and we were going to go places and do stuff, so I guess I was building a life on Earth too.

It might take a while to get home, but we would get there. And for now, we have our weird life on Earth.

* * *

**Wei Tzu**: I think Ruby is actually the one who changed the least, and that was a deliberate choice on my part. She's idealistic and optimistic and stubborn enough to cling to it.

**Firehawk242**: To be honest, I have no idea what a hangover actually feels like, so I probably have no respect for them either.

**Tatopatato**: The original OCs from Emergence? They're in a few of the Asides. They'll appear in Convergence, but probably won't have a significant role.

**GreatWyrmGold**: Vicki is strange, and that might be my fault. I felt that there should be more Ruby as well, but I didn't really know what to put in. And we'll see some familiar faces in Convergence.

**ShadowofAxios**: It's been an adventure for me as an author, too, and I'm looking forward to writing Convergence.

**Krazyfanfiction1**: I'd actually originally planned for White Rose and Bumblebee, but I changed my mind near the beginning of Aliens Among Us. Those used to be my favourites, but Monochrome is growing on me.

**winxfan808**: To me, the buildup felt bigger than the event even in real life, and I guess the chapter reflected that. We'll see the OCs in Convergence and beyond, but they'll probably be fairly minor characters or even cameo appearances. Each OC is also a kind of reflection of Team RWBY, although I'm honestly not sure if I always intended to write it that way or if it just kind of evolved into it. I'm going to kind of miss this fic, too, but I'm excited for Convergence.

So, Aliens Among Us has run its course. I have mixed feelings about this fic. I think there were a lot of good ideas, some of which made it in and some of which didn't. But it would take twice the length of this fic to do a really good job, and trying to keep the mundane exciting was very difficult for me to do. Writing this fic was fun, but also frustrating.

I've learned a lot from the fics I've written, and there will be some major changes to the format of Convergence. It won't follow a fixed or semi-fixed schedule. Chapters will come out when they are ready, with a goal of 1-2 chapters a month as time allows. However, they will be somewhat longer chapters, aiming for 3000-4000 words instead of 1000-2000. Hopefully, I'll be able to put out a better fic and have more time for other things by stretching out the fic across a year or so.

Convergence will be out some time in July- I'm not sure when. In the meantime, I might release a few Asides or update my other fics, but I'll mostly be working quietly on Convergence.


End file.
